


Truth or Dare?

by EHSparkwoman



Series: Decepticons Doing Dares [2]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: F/M, Season 2 AU, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 01:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 46,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10843203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHSparkwoman/pseuds/EHSparkwoman
Summary: About a month has passed since the events of Decepticon Dare Club and Knock Out is planning another of those human games... He invites the former Dare Club and a couple of others to take part. Ideas for truths and dares welcome!





	1. Round 1: Kiss and Tell!

**Author's Note:**

> EHSparkwoman: Can one of you do the disclaimer?
> 
> Starscream: EHSparkwoman doesn’t own Transformers; it belongs to whoever created it.
> 
> EHSparkwoman: Because if I did, Starscream and Airachnid would have done something explicit in the Harbinger!
> 
> Airachnid: …
> 
> This is the sequel to Decepticon Dare Club, so it is recommended that you read that first. I didn’t originally plan to do a sequel but… I worked out some more ideas and here this is! Text written like :: this :: is com speech. Text written like this is a character’s thoughts. Some Cybertronian time units you may need: klik = 1.2 minutes, orbital cycle = 1 month, breem = 8.3 minutes, solar cycle = 1 day, nanoklik = 1 second.

“What are you planning this time, Knocks?”

“Nothing that you won’t be invited to join this time, Breakdown.” Knock Out answered him. The two of them were waiting in med-bay, apparently for some of the other high ranking officers. About a couple of kliks later, the doors to the med-bay slid open.

“Ah, if it isn’t the Nemesis’ resident love-birds.”

“You’d do well to keep your comments about such things to yourself, Knock Out.” Starscream growled at him.

“Why? Pretty much everyone on the Nemesis knows exactly what you two get up to behind closed doors!” Knock Out smirked, hoping silently that Starscream would ask why.

“Have you been spreading rumours again, doctor?” Starscream put his hands on his hips, glaring at Knock Out.

“Actually, no. _You_ are the one who has been ‘spreading rumours’ as you put it!” Knock Out told him triumphantly. The look of shock on Starscream’s face told him that the commander must have forgotten about the events that happened about an orbital cycle ago.

“Remember, the dare from Dreadwing that meant you had to tell the Vehicons about what you get up to with me behind closed doors…” Starscream jumped; he’d apparently forgotten that Airachnid was behind him.

“And the fabled Nemesis grapevine is as efficient as ever…” He groaned.

“What do you mean ‘the whole Nemesis knows’? I didn’t.” Breakdown looked confusedly at Knock Out.

“I didn’t think you’d want to know; and clearly the Vehicons didn’t either.” Knock Out whispered.

Meanwhile, in one of the Nemesis’ many corridors…

“What have you gotten me into?” Skyquake asked.

“Nothing too evil, I assure you.” Dreadwing told his twin.

“What was the worst thing you had to do?”

“Throw slime balloons at Megatron during one of his speeches.” Skyquake’s jaw dropped.

“Really!? That was you?! Everyone thought it was Soundwave!”

“Not everyone. The rest of the Dare Club knew.”

“And I thought our master decreed that this couldn’t be started up again.”

“Knock Out said he isn’t reforming the Dare Club, but he wanted to tell me about something.” Dreadwing started to explain, before being interrupted.

“And why are you dragging me along?”

“Because Knock Out said I could.” Skyquake didn’t notice his twin smirk. Just after his twin answered, they reached the med-bay. The doors slid open, and the first thing they heard was.

“I’ve told you before; you shouldn’t touch me like that in front of others!”

“Why? Does it make you all hard?” Airachnid teased. Starscream groaned; there really was no persuading her sometimes.

“Did we miss something?” Skyquake asked. Dreadwing just shook his head; he’d had to put up with this before. The blue flush staining Starscream’s cheeks seemed to suggest as such.

“Just Airachnid stroking Starscream’s wings.” Breakdown sniggered; he thought Starscream was overreacting. Dreadwing and Skyquake didn’t; they knew how sensitive wings could be.

“Ah, just the two mechs I was waiting for! Do close the door behind you; the ship’s eyes and ears don’t need to hear about this.” Knock Out smirked; the twins had no idea what they’d let themselves in for. After the door shut, they all gathered around where the medic was stood.

“What did you call us here for this time, doctor?” Starscream asked, glaring at him.

“You remember the Decepticon Dare Club, don’t you?” He asked. The shudder from Dreadwing made it worth it.

“I’ll take your silence as a ‘yes’. Well, it turns out Dares is just one of the human games like that. They have another one, one which I think we would all enjoy a lot more.” This seemed to gain Breakdown’s interest.

“What’s this one entail?” He asked.

“The title gives it away, so I’ll just tell what it’s called. The fleshies call it ‘Truth or Dare’.”

“What does it entail; you didn’t explain what we have to do.” Dreadwing told him.

“Err… I didn’t? I suppose not. Let’s decide the order first; then I’ll explain it.” Knock Out pulled a bucket with six wires in it out from under one of the berths.

“Each of these wires is a different length. The one who gets the shortest wire goes first, the one who gets the longest goes last and can ask the first player the question.” He explained. Everyone else grabbed one of the wires, leaving Knock Out with the only one left. He shrugged and grabbed the wire. All of them then held the wires close together and compared the lengths.

“What!? You fixed it!” Starscream shrieked at him.

“How could I have fixed it? Unless you are implying I can read minds or predict the future?” Knock Out told Starscream; who had no choice but to believe him. Starscream noticed then who had got the longest wire and protested again.

“I can no more predict the future than I can make you all pick every wire but the longest one, commander. How would I know that you were going to grab those wires?” Starscream grumbled, resigned to his fate of going first again.

“I’ll now ask you, Starscream; truth or dare?” Starscream seemed surprised he was given the choice.

“Care to explain what each of them is?” Skyquake prompted; since he had a feeling Starscream wouldn’t.

“If you choose truth, the other player asks you a question; which you must answer with the truth; we will know if you are lying! If you choose dare, you will be told to do something by the other player and you must do it. Any other questions?” Knock Out finished explaining and then looked pointedly around the group.

“Truth.” Starscream then muttered ‘sounds like the lesser of two evils.’ The evil smirk he got from Knock Out seemed to suggest otherwise.

“Have you ever done anything…?” He paused on purpose, to make Starscream worry a little.

“Frisky, with Airachnid in a public place? And if so, give details.” Starscream looked very unnerved by the question.

“Actually no, we haven’t.” He tried to sound natural. After he gave his answer, he and the rest of the group heard a high pitched cheeping sound.

“I think the answer is yes, Starscream.” Breakdown smirked. Starscream groaned in response.

“Fine, yes I… err, we have.”

“I believe I asked for details, Starscream.” Knock Out told him. The start of a blush in Starscream’s cheeks told him one thing; this was going to be juicy!

“Well… There was the time when we… ‘Made out’ as you might put it, in the Vehicon wash racks…”

“That doesn’t sound particularly bad…”

“I hadn’t finished, Skyquake. Airachnid didn’t have any armour on, and the only reason I didn’t see anything was because she had a few bubbles covering her up. Something similar happened in the mess hall, only I was the one devoid of any armour…” Starscream glared at Airachnid, who just sniggered in response; she’d been the one to devoid him of his armour after all, and he didn’t realise until later.

“But that’s it, I swear!” A high pitched cheeping answered him again; this time his cheeks turned a bright shade of blue. _He must really not want us to know about any others. That only makes me want to know about them more!_ Knock Out thought, a devious smirk appearing on his face.

“Apparently not, tell us about the other time or times.” Starscream groaned at Knock Out’s request.

“Airachnid may have touched my spike while I was on monitor duty…” He told them, sounding defeated and slightly annoyed he had to tell them.

“With my mouth.” She added. The other four mechs’ jaws dropped and Starscream’s face went a brighter shade of blue.

“Airachnid!” He scolded.

“You didn’t strike me as the type, commander!” Breakdown commented, starting to laugh.

“You mean you were underneath the desk, giving him…”

“Yes.” Airachnid cut off Dreadwing; Starscream looked humiliated enough as it was.

“Can we move on, please?” Starscream grumbled.

“I suppose.” Knock Out shrugged.

“Dreadwing, you’re next.” Starscream had an evil grin on his face. Dreadwing looked a little nervous.

“Truth or dare?” He was asked.

“If you think that I am going to do something ridiculous for the sake of your amusements, you are sadly mistaken. Truth.” He answered.

“Right then…” An evil grin from Starscream told Dreadwing that that was the wrong answer.

“If you were into mechs, who would you choose to be your partner?”

“That question is irrelevant, as I am not.” Dreadwing answered.

“I said if you were. Answer the question!” Starscream caught the nervous look Dreadwing gave in response. Dreadwing then had a thought.

“How would you react if I said ‘you’?”

“Is that _actually_ your answer?” Starscream sounded surprised.

“No, I’d be terrified I’d hurt you.” The fact Starscream looked somewhat disappointed made the others laugh.

“I think it would probably be Breakdown, or… Megatron.” Dreadwing nervously told them, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.

“I knew it!” Starscream crowed; he’d had suspicions about that before.

“But, as I said, I am not into mechs.” Knock Out seemed disappointed that high pitched cheeping didn’t follow this answer.

“Breakdown, truth or dare?” Dreadwing decided to move on, before the rest of them could ask him anything.

“Since I wasn’t a member of the Dare Club, and I haven’t done one… dare.” Breakdown didn’t sound nervous. Airachnid, Knock Out and Starscream thought he probably should have been; Dreadwing was known for coming up with the most evil dares!

“You know how our medic thinks you have a sexy kiss…”

“Dreadwing! If he didn’t hear that in the first place, he doesn’t need to hear it now!” Knock Out interrupted him, instantly regretting it when everyone looked at him. They all saw the blue blush covering his cheeks.

“He does, does he?” Breakdown smirked; apparently liking to tease his friend.

“Yes, he said so… Anyway, I dare you to kiss him. On the mouth, if that wasn’t already apparent.”

“I see that you still can create the most evil dares, Dreadwing.” Starscream smirked; glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of this one!

“I only hope that Skyquake isn’t like his twin in that respect.” Airachnid whispered and it made Starscream shudder just thinking about it.

“Hey, you going to come over here Knocks, or do I have to go to you?” Breakdown asked.

“You mean you’re…?”

“Going to do it? Yeah. That’s kind of the point.” Knock Out’s cheeks went darker blue in response, before he walked over beside Breakdown.

“How are we doing… this?” Knock Out whispered.

:: How about like we did in the corridors? :: Breakdown commed back.

:: But… I thought you said you weren’t into mechs? :: Knock Out didn’t sound very sure.

:: I’m not but, how would the rest of them react? :: Both of them now wore identical smirks. Knock Out leant his head forward and the others thought that meant he’d given in. What happened next however, they didn’t expect. When Breakdown pushed his mouth against Knock Out’s he didn’t pull straight back. The other four had a sneaking suspicion the two of them were doing some sort of dance with their tongues and reacted the only way they could; open jawed shock. Breakdown and Knock Out leant back from each other and turned to look at the other four.

“I wish you could see the looks on your faces!” Breakdown told them, before starting to laugh.

“We thought you two…” Dreadwing trailed off, blushing.

“What, you thought we actually were into each other and had kept it secret?” Knock Out smirked, before continuing.

“I’m sure I told you I was into femmes; that would be literally if Starscream hadn’t claimed the only one on the Nemesis!” The other three closed their jaws and their cheeks turned slightly blue.

“Who got the next shortest wire?” Breakdown had finally stopped laughing and asked; trying to get on with the game. Airachnid and Skyquake held their wires next to each other.

“That would be me.” Airachnid shrugged; she knew which one she was going to pick.

“Truth or dare?” Breakdown asked her.

“I think I’ll choose…” She paused for a few nanokliks.

“Truth.” Breakdown looked a little disappointed; he had a clever idea for a dare. But he supposed he could twist it into a truth question.

“How many of the high ranking mechs on the Nemesis have you kissed and name them?” He asked, getting the sneaking suspicion he knew the answer; two.

“Three.” This made Breakdown’s jaw drop.

“You, Knock Out and Starscream.” Airachnid then noticed Breakdown’s reaction and had to try really hard not to laugh.

“When did you kiss Knocks? I honestly thought you were going to say two.”

“It was in the corridors while we were cleaning up. You’d just wandered off when that happened.” She clarified. Breakdown shook his head.

“Couldn’t resist?” He smirked.

“You are not the only med-bay worker with a hot kiss.” She told him. Starscream growled in reaction. Knock Out preened; annoying Starscream more.

“Anyway, I do believe it’s my turn to ask the question. So, Skyquake; truth or dare?” Airachnid asked; with a smug smirk. Said mech looked a little nervous.

“Dare?” It almost sounded like he was asking if he could choose that.

“What’s your opinion of the Vehicons, Skyquake?” She asked.

“They are helpful and respectful enough.” He answered. Airachnid smirked.

“Would you ever consider them worthy of being a _romantic_ partner?” Skyquake looked slightly repulsed.

“Perhaps, if I were into mechs.” He answered, trying to avoid looking at Airachnid.

“I dare you to kiss the next Vehicon to come in here.” She tried to sound like it didn’t bother her. Skyquake looked worried.

“That could be a while; it is one of those days where no Vehicons come in and I’m bored…” Knock Out told them. Airachnid was the only one not paying attention; she was comming a very specific Vehicon.

:: What is it Airachnid? :: She asked.

:: Skyquake does rev your engine, doesn’t he? :: The Vehicon femme’s cheeks flushed pale blue at Airachnid’s wording.

:: Yes, why do you…? :: Airachnid interrupted before she could finish asking.

:: Just checking. You might want to come to the med-bay; if you haven’t got any pressing matters to attend to. ::

:: I haven’t for once. I’ll make my way there now. :: The highest ranked female Vehicon switched off her com and headed towards the med-bay. A couple of kliks later, she reached the door and knocked on it.

“What was that?”

“Probably a Vehicon at the door.” Knock Out told Starscream, sniggering at the way he jumped.

“Enter.” Knock Out shouted towards the door. It slid open a nanoklik later and sure enough, a Vehicon walked through the door. They slid the door shut behind them.

“Skyquake, why don’t you go _help out_ that Vehicon.” Airachnid told him out loud, while telling him over com to ‘kiss him where a mouth would be on one of us.’ This only made Skyquake more nervous. _I’ve never kissed anyone that wasn’t family before… I really don’t like this…_ The Vehicon couldn’t tell that he was worried however.

“Is there a problem, commander Skyquake?” She asked, trying not to sound nervous.

“Come here.” He told her, trying to hide his nervousness. She walked over and stood in front of him. _Right… now I have to…_ He hoped that no one noticed him swallow.

“What is it you needed, commander?” The Vehicon couldn’t have made it more awkward than that. _I don’t suppose he did that intentionally… Frag it. Be a mech._ He thought to himself, shaking his head. He then leant down and touched his lips against the Vehicon’s mouth plate. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting when she’d walked to med-bay; but getting a kiss from the mech she fancied wasn’t it! She wasn’t sure she could form a coherent sentence at that point. _I must be in recharge; I’ll probably get woken up by an alarm in a moment._ Figuring this was a dream, she headed off out the door.

“I hope you aren’t planning to do that to every Vehicon that comes in here.” Breakdown innocently commented, making the others snigger.

“Like your twin did!” Starscream told them, making said twin flush.

“Just that one, and only because I was dared to.” Skyquake glared at the other mechs. Airachnid quickly sent a com to the highest ranked Vehicon femme; asking if she liked her surprise.

:: I get the feeling this is a dream, and I’m going to be woken up by an alarm in a moment. :: She told Airachnid.

:: I’ll show you a picture later then, to prove it wasn’t a dream. :: This made the female Vehicon happier. Airachnid then looked around at the others.

“Since there is only one mech left, Knock Out truth or dare?” Skyquake asked, still struggling to believe he’d just kissed not only a Vehicon; but a mech too!

“Well, I suppose I could take the _coward’s_ way out and choose truth, but I think I’ll choose dare.” Knock Out looked pointedly at Starscream, trying to get a rise out of him. When it didn’t work, he shrugged.

“Do you know of something the fleshies call ‘hypnotism’?” Skyquake asked. Knock Out looked back at him nervously; giving Skyquake his answer.

“I dare you to act like you are hypnotised.”

“In that case, say something as if you are hypnotising me.” Skyquake smirked; he hadn’t expected Knock Out to agree. Skyquake held up his index finger, before moving it back and forth like a metronome. Knock Out obediently followed the finger’s movements with his optics.

“Um… You are going to go into a trance and do exactly as we say. When I snap my fingers you will go into a trance.” Skyquake snapped his fingers and Knock Out let his arms fall down by his sides, a blank expression on his face.

“You are each allowed to make him do only one thing, and I’ll go first.” Skyquake told the others.

“Knock Out.” The mech seemed to register that someone said his name, as he looked in that general direction.

“Howl like a wolf.” Knock Out looked slightly worried; he knew this would make him look an idiot. He reluctantly hunkered down and tilted his head up slightly. It was when he actually started howling that most of the others started laughing at him. They also noticed just the first hints of a blush in his cheeks.

“Who’s going to tell him what to do next?” Breakdown asked. Knock Out had tilted his head back up and had howled again just afterwards.

“Why don’t I?” Airachnid asked. Skyquake nodded and she turned to the medic currently hunkered down and howling at the ceiling.

“Knock Out, act like a chicken.” She said with a smug smirk. He looked worried but stood back up on two legs. He lifted both of his arms up, so they were in front of his chest, his elbows pointing out to the sides. He then began to ‘flap’ his arms and make a clucking sound. This made four of the group laugh, Knock Out however believed it was all five of them. He then lowered his head and began to ‘peck’ the ground. Airachnid watched for a few more nanokliks before turning to the others.

“Who’s going to go next?” She asked.

“Since Breakdown asked last time, he can ask now.” Skyquake told them. Breakdown turned to see what his partner was doing and saw him still bent over, moving his head as though he was pecking the ground and occasionally clucking.

“Knock Out.” Breakdown paused. Knock Out looked at him, almost expectantly.

“Act like a puppy.” They saw Knock Out looked more worried than last time, before adjusting his pose and ‘standing’ on all fours. He let his tongue hang out of his mouth, panting. He barked a couple of times, making the others laugh again.

“Can give him commands?” Breakdown asked.

“I presume that is why you chose this particular one.” Skyquake answered.

“Sit.” Breakdown told Knock Out. He obliged; adjusting his position so he was sat like four legged creatures did.

“Paw.” Breakdown walked over beside his partner and put his hand down. Knock Out lifted up one of his hands, closing it in a fist, and placed it on his partner’s out-stretched one.

“Good boy.” Breakdown rubbed the top of his partner’s head, making said mech bark and the others laugh. _Except one, doesn’t Airachnid think this is funny?_ Knock Out couldn’t help but wonder.

“Roll over.” Breakdown told him. The medic reluctantly obeyed, first rolling on to his side then on to his back. Breakdown then knelt down and began rubbing Knock Out’s tummy, again telling him he was a good boy. Breakdown then had a mischievous thought and began to wiggle his fingers against his partner’s stomach. Knock Out began to fidget, trying to get away from his partner’s fingers.

“Stop it…” He mumbled.

“Puppies don’t speak.” Breakdown told him. Knock Out grumbled, and Breakdown continued to tickle him.

“No tickling!” Knock Out told his partner quietly, at least he hoped it was quietly, and got out of it the only way he could think of. He rolled back over and stood back on all fours.

“Beg, pup.” Breakdown stepped back towards the others after telling him this. Knock Out didn’t like the sound of that, but assumed a ‘sit’ position. He then adjusted his pose; so he was stood up in a ‘begging’ pose. Breakdown smirked and walked back to the rest of them.

“Who is going to tell him what to do next?”

“There’s only me and Dreadwing left to do so.” Starscream told him.

“I’ve got the perfect idea. He won’t like it.” Dreadwing smirked. _You probably won’t either._ He looked over to Knock Out, who was still in a begging pose.

“Knock Out.” The mech in question looked to where his name came from, barking a couple of times; much to everyone’s amusement.

“Do the ‘all hail Starscream’ dance.” Starscream’s optics widened; he wasn’t aware that _that_ dance had been given a name. Both his and Knock Out’s cheeks went pale blue. Knock Out stood back up, like the others. He then raised one of his hands to his audio; like Starscream had done. The rest of the group didn’t speak, but that didn’t stop him from pointing forward. _Is this how Starscream felt stood behind Megatron?_ Knock Out wondered, stood completely still with one arm pointed forward.

He then nervously adjusted his pose and paused for a couple of nanokliks before gyrating his hips. Again he noticed Airachnid was the only one not laughing at him.

 _Unless she had a personality swap with Soundwave; there is no way she shouldn’t be laughing at me right now…_ He thought before a different thought crossed his mind; turning his cheeks bright blue. _Unless she is enjoying this for different reasons, maybe that explains why she joined us in the first place. She might have a kink for humiliation…_ He then noticed that others were looking not at him, but expectantly at Starscream.

“I’ll just have to go fetch it.” Starscream told them, before heading over to one of the storage closets. He fished something out of it and grabbed an empty energon cube. Knock Out had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t bode well for him. Starscream walked back over to the group with a full energon cube in his hands and a smug grin on his face.

“Knock Out.” Starscream looked expectantly at the medic; who stopped what he was doing at his name.

“Drink from this, turbo fox.” Starscream slid the cube across the floor. _That… doesn’t look like energon._ Knock Out thought nervously, before getting down on all fours and crawling over to the cube. He sniffed at it first before swiping his tongue into the fluid. He instantly recoiled and began shaking his tongue about.

“What the frag is that?! It tastes like soap!”

“Cleaning fluid, of the variety that is used on the floors I’d presume.” Dreadwing smirked; realising that Starscream had picked that on purpose.

“Turbo foxes can’t talk. They just lap up what they are given in silence.” Starscream smirked at Knock Out; who still looked disgusted. He didn’t see much way out of this, so put his head back over the cube and lapped at it.

“I think that the turbo fox should _wag his tail_.” Starscream’s grin went wider after that comment. Knock Out looked shocked but lifted his head up. _That stuff is absolutely horrible… I can’t believe I had to swallow it…_ Knock Out wiggled his aft back and forth a few times before going back to lapping at the cube, reluctantly swallowing the fluid.

“I think he’s been tortured quite enough now…” Breakdown told the others.

“Knock Out, stand up.” Skyquake told him. Knock Out stood up, quicker than he had reacted to any of the other prompts; he must have really hated drinking the fluid!

“Follow the movement…” Skyquake wiggled his finger back and forth, Knock Out following the movement with his optics.

“When I snap my fingers, you are no longer in a trance.” Skyquake snapped his fingers, and instantly wished he didn’t.

“Why in Pit did you make me drink that vile fluid? And did you not think that it was funny Airachnid? I was expecting you to be doubled over like the rest of them!” Knock Out instantly voiced his opinions on what he’d been made to do.

“You made me play turbo fox…” Starscream trailed off, hoping that Dreadwing would pick up on his train of thought.

“And you, Starscream and Airachnid tried to make me drink that fluid.” Dreadwing apparently had realised.

“And I believe the fleshies say that ‘turnabout is fair play’.” Starscream told him smugly. Knock Out growled and then looked to Airachnid; expecting an answer.

“I didn’t laugh while you were doing all of that, but I’m sure I’ll laugh at it later when I _play it back_.” She told him with an innocent smile. Realisation dawned in Knock Out’s optics and his cheeks went bright blue. The other four started to laugh again; this time at his reaction.

“You mean you _recorded_ that… humiliation?”

“Of course, and I’ll just have to leave it for one of the Vehicons to scatter on the Nemesis’ network.” She told him.

“Please, don’t! I’ll do anything!” Knock Out saw the evil grins all of the others gave him.

“Anything?” Airachnid asked innocently. _Frag! I did say that out loud…_

“What will you have me do?” Knock Out grumbled, sounding defeated.

“Lie down on your back, on one of those berths.” Airachnid told him. Knock Out obliged, not seeing what the problem was with this. Airachnid walked over to him and purposely positioned herself over him. Knock Out realised what this must have looked like to the others and began to squirm.

“What are you…?” He asked nervously.

“Put your arms up…” She purposefully whispered, lowering her voice. _Is it just me or is she trying to… **flirt** with me?_ He thought, nervously doing as she asked. She stuck his arms above his head with some webbing.

“ _Endure_ this for half a breem, and I won’t put the footage on the Nemesis’ network.” She giggled, and he wondered what she meant by ‘endure’. _Endure? Endure what?_ His train of thought got interrupted by Airachnid gently stroking his sides. _Wait… is she doing what I think she’s doing?_

:: If you are trying to arouse me; that isn’t the best place to… :: He trailed off; the stroking felt good. Airachnid had heard his com, but decided not to answer it. _He’s not going to like this in a moment._ She thought, before wiggling her fingers against his sides, instead of stroking them.

“Ah! No!” Knock Out began to squirm, now knowing what she was up to.

“Please… Don’t!” He managed to gasp out, between fits of giggles.

“What, are you ticklish Doc?” Airachnid asked innocently. Knock Out would have growled in response; but it was a bit difficult for him to do anything with her tickling him. She decided then to move to his stomach, and tickle that instead.

“Please… stop… it…” Airachnid just about made out what he was trying to tell her. She paused and he muttered something that sounded like ‘thank Primus…’ in between breaths.

“I can stop…” She paused.

“Really?” Knock Out looked hopeful. Airachnid could have sworn she heard him say his sides were starting to hurt.

“But I’ll have to scatter the footage of your dare on the network if I do. I’ve only been tickling you for about 3 kliks.” She told him. The other four couldn’t help noticing his cheeks were bright blue; probably due to how loud he was being.

“That’s near enough half a breem, right?” He hoped they answered yes.

“What do you think?” Airachnid asked the other four.

“I’d say double it.” Starscream told them; being answered by an outraged squawk from Knock Out.

“What do you mean ‘double it’? I’ve never done anything this nasty to you!”

“Knocks is right; it is near enough half a breem.” Breakdown could sense an argument; and interrupted before it started.

“I think he could probably take the few nanokliks that are left.” Skyquake told them.

“He should take it like a mech this time.” Dreadwing remembered the last time this sort of thing had happened.

“Sorry, I agree with the twins.” Airachnid told him; in a way that made Knock Out doubt she was sorry. She didn’t begin to tickle him again though; which confused him. She leant her head down towards his stomach before looking up at him and sticking her tongue out.

:: What are you up to now? :: He commed her. She didn’t deign to answer him and instead ran her tongue across his stomach. Knock Out couldn’t help thinking that the sensation felt familiar… _Wait… That wasn’t a slimy finger, was it?_ He thought, his cheeks going pale blue for what he thought had to be the hundredth time that solar cycle.

“Airachnid, that is inappropriate!” Starscream shouted at her. She leaned back up and looked at him.

“You don’t seem to mind when I do it to you.” Her comment made the other three start laughing.

“That’s different; I’m your partner!” He shouted at her, his cheeks now turning pale blue. Airachnid shrugged and clambered off Knock Out; releasing his arms as she did so.

“I’d call that half a breem.” She told him in a stage whisper; to make sure that the others heard as well.

“How does this game go now?” Skyquake asked, which drew the others back to attention.

“I’d imagine that the fleshies would just start up another round, like with Dares but…” Knock Out was interrupted.

“That isn’t how the Dare Club did it.” Starscream told them.

“But I think we should do this the way the Decepticon Dare Club did; with a group dare!” Knock Out finished telling them.


	2. Group Dare 1: Flirting for Cybertron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Group Dare time! (That seems somewhat familiar…) Some Cybertronian time units you might need: solar cycle = 1 day, cycle = 1.25 hours (1 hour 15 minutes) (note: IDW definition of a cycle), nanoklik = 1 second, klik = 1.2 minutes, breem = 8.3 minutes.

“What’s a group dare?” Skyquake asked, nervously.

“A dare that all of us do together.” Knock Out clarified.

“Such as?” Skyquake apparently still didn’t get it.

“All of us spending the solar cycle in our protoforms…” Airachnid started to tell them. Breakdown’s jaw opened in shock; he wished he’d been around to see that!

“Drinking a cocktail that made us resemble one another for 3 cycles…” Dreadwing continued, making Breakdown and Skyquake shudder; they remembered that one all too well.

“Or flirting with the Autobots.” Starscream finished telling them.

“All of you did that?” Skyquake asked.

“Yes.” Knock Out shrugged; trying not to remember that.

“And the femme Autobot liked _him_ the most!” Starscream pointed at Dreadwing; as though that was unusual.

“And I remember saying that in-your-face flirting doesn’t impress the femmes.” Dreadwing told him, with a smirk.

“That’s just given me an idea.” Airachnid smirked, pausing for a moment before telling the others what it was.

“I can think of at least a few Vehicons who would disagree with that statement.”

“The Vehicons are all mechs. I’m not sure they’d know how to please a femme; mechs possibly…” Knock Out trailed off, remembering the group of Vehicons that came in first thing in the morning.

“Well… I know the Vehicons have been talking about how _attractive_ they find us.” She almost starting laughing at the expressions on some of the mechs faces.

“They… they think we’re attractive?” Skyquake sounded disbelieving.

“That Vehicon that you kissed sure seemed happy that you did!” Starscream told him, sniggering.

“How about we spend the rest of today being outrageously flirtatious with the Vehicons?” Airachnid suggested. The shocked expressions on the faces of each of the mechs almost made her laugh.

“You _can’t_ be serious.” Knock Out almost shouted.

“Knock Out just told us that all of the Vehicons are mechs. What do you take us for?” Breakdown joined in the shouting. It seemed only to be amusing her more.

:: And why would I want to? I have you after all. :: Starscream told her over a com.

“You’re almost as bad as Soundwave!” She told them, not bothering to keep her laughter in now.

“We are not into mechs Airachnid.” Dreadwing told her, in a deadpan tone.

“You don’t need to be. That’s my suggestion for the group dare. We all flirt with the Vehicons for the rest of the day. Unless anyone has any other suggestions…” She paused for a few nanokliks but received no answer.

“Right then, let’s head out of here and…” She was interrupted by the sound of the intercom.

‘Could the rest of my hierarchy please report to the bridge? I do not appreciate long disappearing acts!’ Megatron’s shouting made all of them scurry towards the door.

XxX

“Where have you all been hiding? It’s not like some of you to be away from the bridge.” Megatron asked them, sounding deceptively calm.

“Breakdown and I have been in the med-bay, as you would expect lord Megatron.” Knock Out hoped that Megatron didn’t enquire as to what he’d been up to.

“You don’t really need to know the _details_ of what I’ve been doing, do you?” Airachnid ran one of her fingers down Starscream’s front, making him squirm. Megatron shook his head; deciding that he had no desire to hear about what happened behind closed doors between those two. He’d heard the rumours as well.

“My twin and I have been reviewing some reports in our quarters, lord Megatron.” Dreadwing told him. Megatron thought this a little unusual, but didn’t say anything; his officers were entitled to do their work in their quarters.

“Right… I’m sure you are all capable of finding out what it is you will be assigned today.” He paused, expecting them to move off to check. When they hadn’t moved after half a klik, he decided to ‘encourage’ them.

“Why are you all still stood around like dolts?” Megatron raised his voice and they all thought better of staying stood around. They’d glanced at their jobs now anyway. _Monitor duty, joy…_ Starscream thought, already resigning himself to being bored for the rest of the solar cycle. Airachnid had glanced at her duties over her… well, she guessed it was her partner’s, shoulder and saw that; as per usual, she had none. _Does Megatron not think me capable of monitor duty like the rest of them? No matter; that just gives me more excuses to go and check up on how the rest of them are doing._ She headed off out the door, after Knock Out and Breakdown. Skyquake and Dreadwing had both been assigned monitor duty as well, but purposefully didn’t sit beside each other, like normal. This made Megatron suspicious; what were they up to? Had they had a fight? He decided that as long as it didn’t interfere with their work, he’d leave them to sort it out themselves. Starscream already had his arms both on the desk; using them to support his head. _Ugh, this should be used as a form of torture! How much longer have I got to do this for?_ He glanced at the clock and nearly shouted at how much time had passed. _How can it have only been four kliks? It feels like it should have been at least four breems…_ He then stopped looking at the monitor for a moment, nothing ever happened anyway, and glanced at the Vehicons beside him. _Airachnid said we’re supposed to_ flirt _with these mechs. What could she have been thinking? They wouldn’t know how to respond!_ He thought, before glancing back at one of them. He must have realised he was being watched, as he turned to look.

“Is there a problem, commander?” The Vehicon asked. Starscream lifted his head up and properly turned to look at him.

“No… I’m just trying to think about the best way to speak to you…” The Vehicon hoped he’d heard that right. Commander Starscream _wanted_ to speak to him?! He was so shocked he didn’t answer.

“I’d bet you wish that you weren’t on monitor duty right now…” Starscream paused, before lowering his voice.

“I know I do.” The Vehicon wasn’t exactly sure what changed about the way the commander spoke, but it was doing _something_ to him. The Vehicon just about managed to answer this time though.

“Em… then what would you rather being doing, commander Starscream?” Starscream cringed inside at how well the Vehicon had set this one up, and at the fact he was going to say it!

“Come closer, I’ll have to whisper it.” Starscream told him quietly, as though he really didn’t want anyone else to hear. The Vehicon did as asked and then Starscream told him.

“You…” The Vehicon stiffened; he thought commander Starscream and commander Airachnid were a thing! Maybe that was all just a front for something else… but why would Starscream want a Vehicon?

“Hmm… Why would I want you?” Starscream asked, and the Vehicon’s face turned pale blue; he’d asked that out-loud!

“Because you are strong, handsome and good company on these boring shifts…” The Vehicon had to turn away from Starscream at that point; the commander had a seductive look in his optics. The Vehicon had decided that if he stuck around; he’d end up saying or doing something that he’d regret. He quickly stood up and walked off to find a replacement. _Thank Primus… I thought I was going to have to keep that up!_ Starscream was inwardly cringing; he’d just flirted with a _mech_! It had been fun watching the Vehicon get flustered though. He decided that it could be fun to keep it up; and turned to the other Vehicon beside him.

“I bet you’d like to find out why they call me Screamer…”

XxX

_I swear those Vehicons are the same three that came in this morning… What are they after?_ Knock Out pondered, glancing at the three Vehicons stood at the door.

“Can you help us? We all were stood too near the engines, and…”

“Didn’t you come in with that _excuse_ yesterday as well?” Knock Out asked. The Vehicons looked a little worried; had the medic worked it out?

“But, a medic’s job is never done… You, come here!” Knock Out pointed at the Vehicon in the middle. She nervously walked forward and stood in front of him.

“Why don’t you climb up there…?” He gestured to the berth.

“And tell the doctor where it hurts.” The Vehicon couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did Knock Out sound _suggestive_ just then? She was sure his voice sounded different too. She decided to obey; hoping maybe her wildest fantasies were about to come true, and the medic really was interested in her. She wondered how far it would be smart to push this… whatever it was.

“Em… it hurts most right here…” She pointed to her inner thigh, hoping that he’d examine that area… with his hands. _That area doesn’t appear to be… Oh! He obviously knows what I’m up to… Maybe I should play along…_ Knock Out thought, before lowering his head to take a look.

“There doesn’t appear to be any particular injury here… How does it hurt?” The Vehicon shook a little, before following on with her idea.

“It feels like the cables are tight.” She told him, struggling to keep her voice even. Knock Out had to suppress a snigger; this Vehicon clearly knew what he was doing! _The things I do for the Dare Club…_ he thought, before adjusting his pose. He began to rub the area, as you would to try and relieve tight cables. He tried to keep the motions innocent; but the Vehicon’s reactions seemed to suggest otherwise. After about half a klik, he stopped.

“Feel better now?” He asked. The Vehicon thought she was seeing things; was that a _naughty_ look in his optics? She wasn’t sure she could speak after that, so she nodded.

“Breakdown, could you bring me a rotary buffer for his scratches?” Knock Out made sure to ask loudly, as though Breakdown wasn’t just out of sight. That made the Vehicons by the door stiffen a little.

“Sure thing.” Breakdown said louder than necessary; best keep up Knock Out’s illusion after all. He walked over and handed the buffer over.

“How about you see what you can do to _help_ those two?” Knock Out told him. Breakdown wasn’t sure what… Oh. _Knock Out wants_ me _to do what he’s doing with that Vehicon to one of the other two over there. I don’t ooze sex appeal the way he does…_

“Do either of you need attention?” He asked. Neither of the Vehicons said anything, or moved to indicate they would be interested.

“I might only be Knock Out’s assistant…” Breakdown paused, and then said in what he hoped was a suggestive manner.

“But I do know all his _tricks_.” This made the Vehicon stood on the left step forward.

“Can you help me? I think my back is all tight…” He told Breakdown. This Vehicon would never admit it to anyone, but he was interested in both of the medical officers.

“Why don’t you lie down over there, and I’ll work my magic?” Breakdown wiggled his fingers a little, making the Vehicon shudder. He went over to the berth Breakdown pointed at, and lay face down. Breakdown moved over beside the berth and then leant down beside him.

“This might be a little… _rough_.” Breakdown then stood back up and started to rub his fists against the Vehicon’s back. The Vehicon shuddered, this had to be a dream… no way was he getting a massage from Breakdown… The Vehicon then had a thought, and shivered; wishing that it could be true. Instead, he knew his friend was getting attention from the one mech on the Nemesis she wanted; instead of him receiving attention from _both of them_.

“You feeling a bit better now?” Breakdown asked him, and he almost jumped.

“Yuh… yes sir.” He answered; stumbling over his words.

“Now how about I get your scratches buffed out?” Breakdown asked. The Vehicon pondered where that buffer had come from.

“Well… I always carry one in subspace.” Breakdown paused.

“Just in case Knock Out wants me to use it on him.” The Vehicon had a good few scenarios running through his head at that comment, none of them innocent. He was certain he could feel his optics dimming, but he looked up. And saw what he thought looked like a smirk on Breakdown’s face. He couldn’t take that insinuation and went into stasis. Breakdown looked a little concerned; did he do something wrong? He gave the Vehicon a careful check over, before realising he was fine. Breakdown then glanced over at Knock Out only to see he was doing the same thing!

:: What’d you do? :: Breakdown asked.

:: He said that his faceplate hurt, so I asked if he’d like me to kiss it better. He went into stasis after that. What about you? ::

:: What? Err… I was going to buff out his scratches, and then he asked where the buffer came from. :: Knock Out smirked at what Breakdown told him.

:: Shall we see if the other Vehicon would like _our_ help? :: Breakdown nodded, and both of them turned to face him. Said Vehicon shuddered at the smirk on Knock Out’s face and the smile on Breakdown’s.

“Would like us to help you _feel better_ too?” Knock Out asked in his most suggestive voice. She collapsed on the spot from the naughty suggestions that her head created from that comment.

“Right, Breakdown; we’d better deal with the scratches on these two.” Breakdown picked up the Vehicon on the floor and put him on a berth, before walking over to the Vehicon he’d been attending to. About a breem later, all three of the Vehicons onlined. The glanced up and saw the two mechs that made them go into stasis.

“Well, that’s you three free to go.” Breakdown told them. All three of them seemed to get the idea and stood up and headed for the door.

“But I’m sure you three clumsy Vehicons will be back tomorrow…” Knock Out speaking made them all turn.

“For our… _expert consultation_.” Knock Out was speaking in his most seductive voice again. All three of the Vehicons squeaked just thinking about it, before all of them quickly headed out the door, not wanting to make bigger fools of themselves. After a few nanokliks, Breakdown turned to Knock Out.

“Should we do something like that for _every_ Vehicon that comes in here today?”

“Definitely. We probably made those three’s solar cycle.” Knock Out answered.

XxX

_Does nothing ever happen on this warship? I know lord Megatron is a brilliant leader, but does that really mean that no one ever does anything? Almost makes me wish that the Dare Club wasn’t a forbidden thing…_ Dreadwing thought to himself. He quickly glanced over at Megatron and saw… _Is he taking a nap_ again _?_ Dreadwing shook his head; how did his leader manage to keep the warship under control while dreaming of… whatever it was Megatron dreamed about. Dreadwing had no desire to find out. He was also certain he could hear Vehicons whispering behind him.

“Go and ask him something!” One of them said.

“No way! He’s…” One of them stumbled over his words.

“Your spark’s desire?” If that had been a normal mech, Dreadwing would be certain that he would be smirking.

“What? Who told you?” The second one that spoke sounded annoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

“Go and ask him something, and I might tell you.” The third one told him. This seemed to make up the second one’s mind, as a few nanokliks later, Dreadwing felt a finger tapping him on the shoulder.

“What is it you wanted?” He turned to look at the Vehicon, with what he hoped was a dreamy look in his optics. The Vehicon didn’t answer straight away, and Dreadwing was sure he saw a faint blush on the Vehicon’s face.

“Do… do you need anything, commander?” He asked nervously. Dreadwing paused, as though pondering what he needed, before answering.

“You could sit here. I wouldn’t mind someone to talk to.” He then motioned for the Vehicon to sit. The Vehicon was thinking ‘Really? The commander wants to talk to _me_?’ but he moved to sit beside Dreadwing. Said mech looked calm on the outside, but inside was terrified.

:: What do I do? :: He commed his twin.

:: How about I come and give you a hand? There’s got to be some Vehicons with _those_ kinds of fantasies… :: Dreadwing’s face nearly went blue thinking about that. There were mechs who wanted both him _and_ his twin? It was at that point that he realised that Vehicon was speaking.

“Do… do you fancy sparring?” The Vehicon asked nervously. Dreadwing couldn’t help thinking ‘Is he serious?’ before answering.

“I have been assigned monitor duty. Therefore I must carry it out.” The Vehicon looked disappointed, so Dreadwing reached across and put one of his hands on the Vehicon’s arm.

“But if you are interested, I would be happy to _indulge_ you after my shift.” The Vehicon couldn’t believe it; did Dreadwing sound _flirtatious_ just then? He must have been hearing things.

:: Looks like you don’t need my help brother. :: Skyquake commed him, and Dreadwing glanced up.

:: I think your assistance would still be helpful. :: _He hasn’t fled like the one Starscream spoke to…_ Dreadwing added to himself. Skyquake seemed to get the idea and came over to sit on the other side of the Vehicon. Said Vehicon jumped when he felt a hand on his other arm. He glanced up and saw… this had to be a dream.

“I couldn’t help overhearing… you wish to spar later?” Skyquake waited for a nod before continuing,

“Surely you would rather do so with me? I am better at it.” Skyquake hoped his twin got the hint.

“Get your own sparring partner, Skyquake!” Dreadwing raised his voice a little; he had a feeling he knew what Skyquake was planning.

“I’m sure he’d be happy to spar with _both_ of us.” Skyquake turned to the Vehicon and said Vehicon nearly flushed blue at the smirk on the green twin’s face. The Vehicon stuttered out an answer.

“You… you both want to spar with _me_?” Both of the twins glanced up and smirked at each other, before returning to the Vehicon.

“If you are _up for it_.” It was Dreadwing’s turn to smirk at the Vehicon, which gave said Vehicon the shivers at another thought.

“Do you two normally share sparring partners?” Both twins had a similar naughty thought at that comment.

“If they are _amiable_.” Dreadwing answered.

“Some of them do like to grapple with _both of us_.” Skyquake smirked when the Vehicon’s face turned blue; clearly the Vehicon’s thoughts had gone the exact way the twins wanted them to. The Vehicon began to feel a little faint at the idea of the next question; but with what Skyquake insinuated, he was certain he knew the answer.

“Do you two share p-p- _partners_?” The twins thought he sounded a little hopeful. _Better not squash that hope._ Dreadwing thought.

“If they are interested in _both of us_.” Dreadwing told the Vehicon, with a smirk.

“We are twins, after all…” Skyquake paused, also smirking at the Vehicon.

“We are good at _sharing_.” Both of them said at the same time, making the Vehicon collapse. Clearly his mind couldn’t take the insinuation he _could_ have both. Dreadwing quickly checked the Vehicon to make sure he was alright. Upon seeing that he was, he glanced up to his twin.

“I really hope that doesn’t become a rumour…” Dreadwing thought, out loud to see what Skyquake’s feelings were on it.

“I don’t think we will be worrying about that.” He gestured over to the other two Vehicons Dreadwing heard speaking. Both of them were collapsed on the floor as well.

“Does this mean that both of them have ‘the hots’ for both of us too?” Dreadwing asked. Skyquake only smirked.

“Maybe. Do you think Knock Out should take a look over these three, make sure that they really haven’t blown something?” Skyquake asked after a few nanokliks. Dreadwing’s answer was to pick up the Vehicon by his feet.

XxX

_Why is it that every time I go towards a Vehicon, they bolt?_  Airachnid thought to herself. She’d been wandering the ship for a while now and she still hadn’t flirted with anyone. _Maybe it is time to pay a visit to my Insecticons._ She seemed to think that was a brilliant idea, so she promptly turned around and headed towards their portion of the ship. After about half a breem, she reached the door to ‘The Hive’, as the others had taken to calling it. It looked more like an oversized and underused training room that the Insecticons had taken over to her. She walked in and saw that the Insecticons did look a bit restless.

“What are your orders, your majesty?” Hardshell asked, before bowing to her.

“Could you come with me, I’m sure Bombshock could take charge while you are away…” She tried to sound wistful; she figured Hardshell might not pick up on that. Hardshell told Bombshock to take charge before following his mistress out the door.

“Don’t you get tired of this, Hardshell?” She asked, cryptically.

“Of what, your majesty?” Airachnid decided to play this based on his response; she was vague on purpose.

“The formalities.” She answered.

“It is necessary, you are my queen.” Hardshell answered her. It sounded like a pre-programmed response to her.

“Don’t you ever wish…” She paused before lowering her voice.

“That they _weren’t_.” She tried not snigger when he stiffened. He pondered it for a few nanokliks.

“Sometimes, when I’m feeling a little wound up.” He answered. _He kind of brought this response on himself…_ She thought before answering him.

“What do you mean, wound up?” She saw him stiffen again and was sure she saw the faintest hint of a blush in his cheeks.

“Whenever the Vehicons, or even some of the female Insecticons, mention how _cute_ or _amazing_ you and commander Starscream look together; it annoys me.” He told her. Airachnid stiffened now; was he going to tell her what she thought he was?

“Why would you be annoyed by that?” She asked, trying not to honestly sound intrigued.

“Would you not be annoyed if you saw the mech you lusted after with another femme?” Hardshell’s response confirmed Airachnid’s suspicions; Hardshell was interested in her romantically.

“I suppose so…” She then paused, as a naughty suggestion came into her mind. _I hope this doesn’t end badly for either of us._

“Of course, commander Starscream doesn’t need to be my… _exclusive_ partner.” She noticed Hardshell stiffen again, a hopeful look in his visor.

“Might… I have a chance?” Hardshell asked. Airachnid decided to keep his hope alive, using her normal way of attracting mechs.

“You’d have to fit my three criteria…” She paused before lowering her voice.

“Which I’ll test you for now, if you stand with your back to that wall.” She pointed. Hardshell didn’t know what she was planning, but he decided he liked where this was going.

“As you command… _Airachnid_.” She decided she liked the way he said her name just then. _It doesn’t quite rev me up the way Starscream does though…_ She thought. She saw that Hardshell had his back against the wall, so she stepped forward.

“You’re probably going to enjoy this.” She told him. Hardshell was sure her voice sounded more seductive. He then felt her running her hands across his stomach, as if trying to feel through the armour plating there. Either way, the touches felt good. He stiffened when her hands went lower, stroking across his crotch plate in a similar manner. _Is she trying to judge my size? Is that what female Insecticons look for in a partner?_ Hardshell was confused if that was the case; why would Airachnid have chosen commander Starscream as her partner if she was into large mechs?

“Well… you pass tests one and two. Now for test three.” She told him, before smirking.

“Test three involves you kissing me.” Hardshell stiffened. There was no way that she could be serious about that, was there? She leant her head towards his, confirming to him she was serious. _Why do I get the feeling that I’m going to be woken up?_ He pondered, before deciding if he was going to be woken up; he’d better make sure he was enjoying it. He carefully put his mouth against hers, wary of moving his lips; he didn’t want to hurt her. He did however slide his tongue into her mouth, letting it stroke the inside. A few nanokliks later, he pulled back. Airachnid looked to be considering something.

“You lack a little finesse… But I suppose you pass test three as well.” She told him. Hardshell’s response was to pick her up and cuddle her. _OK… maybe I shouldn’t have led him on like that._ She thought, relaxing a little. Then a naughty thought sprung into her mind.

“How would you like to be trussed up in my webbing?” She whispered in a seductive voice. Hardshell stiffened and let her go. Airachnid knew she saw a blush on his cheeks this time.

“Right now?” He asked, sounding very nervous.

“If you insist.” She shot some of her webbing, and pinned both of his hands to the wall.

“A-Airachnid… I’m not…” Hardshell started to speak, but Airachnid hushed him with a claw over his lips.

“I’ll be back in a klik…” She told him, before heading back inside the Hive. She made sure to close the door before asking.

“Any of you got the hots for Hardshell?” More than a few femmes and a couple of mechs nervously raised their hands, not sure why she was asking.

“Follow me, but wait at the door until I say.” She told them. They seemed confused but all moved to wait beside the door. Airachnid then walked through the door and walked around the corner.

“Why did you tie me up like this?” Hardshell asked.

“I thought maybe you deserved a little attention…” She told him, running her hand across his chest again. He looked worried; was she really going to do this right now?

“And you’ve been so caught up in trying to attract my attention, that you didn’t realise how many had their attentions on _you_.” Hardshell couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Who wants Hardshell?” She shouted around the corner. More than a few shouts of ‘Me!’ answered her.

“Then come and get him!” She told the group at the door. They came around the corner quite quickly and then saw what she was talking about.

“Are there any limits?” One of the female Insecticons asked. The others seemed inquisitive as well; their very kind queen had stuck the object of their affections to the wall.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She told them. All of them sounded pleased at that; based on what they’d heard happened between her and commander Starscream, that gave them almost free reign! Hardshell shivered at the group of at least a dozen Insecticons advancing on him.

“Airachnid! Don’t just leave me here like…” Hardshell started to protest but then one of the female Insecticons silenced his protests with a kiss.

“Have fun!” She told them, before walking off. She didn’t hear any shouts of protest from Hardshell after that. What she and the other Insecticons couldn’t have been aware of was that all of that was being caught on one of the many cameras aboard the Nemesis.

XxX

At the end of the solar cycle, all of them decided it would be a good idea to meet up in med-bay.

“That was fun!” Airachnid told the rest of them when she walked through the doors. She couldn’t help but notice Starscream looked cross.

“How many other mechs do intend to kiss?” Starscream growled.

“What do you mean?” She asked innocently. Everyone else was getting excited; it looked like there might be a full on fight brewing!

“I saw you kissing Hardshell.” He told her, glaring at her.

“How? I thought you were on monitor duty.”  Airachnid looked worried.

“I was. And I glanced at the camera readout just outside the Insecticon Hive and I find you and Hardshell locked together at the mouth!” Starscream screeched at her.

“You saw that…” She sounded a little annoyed herself; whether it was at being caught or something else the others had no idea.

“Yes, as it happens I did!”

“Well, did you see what happened about a couple of kliks after that?” She asked, clearly also angry now.

“What… what do you mean?” He sounded worried.

“He didn’t. I did; he swapped with me after seeing you and Hardshell kissing.” Skyquake told them all.

“Do you mind explaining to him what exactly he missed?” It was Airachnid’s turn to glare at her partner now.

“She stuck Hardshell to the wall and then went off into the Hive. She came back out about half a klik later and, about half a klik after that, about a dozen Insecticons came out. All of them began to kiss and well… you get the idea, Hardshell. I stopped watching when saw something I’d rather forget…” Skyquake shuddered.

“I’m intrigued now, what was it?” Airachnid asked.

“One of them managed to remove his crotch plating…” Skyquake told her, his cheeks turning pale blue.

“Sounds like Hardshell had fun this afternoon!” Knock Out sniggered.

“Since we have now sorted out what I thought of the solar cycle’s events…” She paused to glare at Starscream.

“What about the rest of you?” She turned to the rest of them, purposefully ignoring Starscream.

“That was… more fun than I thought it would be.” Dreadwing told her. Skyquake nodded his head too; she decided she might have to enquire about what they’d been up to later.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many Vehicons collapse or black out in one solar cycle before!” Knock Out told them.

“I didn’t think that many Vehicons had such fantasies involving me and the doc.” Breakdown shook his head with a shrug. Airachnid thought there would be a story or two there as well.

“That was so humiliating! I can’t believe I had to flirt with all of those mechs…”

“Starscream, did you enjoy it?” Knock Out asked, rolling his optics at Starscream’s display of dramatics.

“Their reactions were, admittedly, quite funny at times.” He answered.

“Then quit your whining!” Dreadwing shouted at him. Starscream grumbled under his breath at being told off.

“What happens now?” Skyquake asked.

“We all go recharge and then meet back up in here tomorrow.” Knock Out told them.

“Will it be the same kind of things?” Breakdown asked.

“It usually is.” Dreadwing shrugged.

“You might want to think of things to dare us to do, or truths you want to know…” Starscream told them, already plotting some ideas of his own.

“And with that, Starscream and myself will see you all tomorrow.” Airachnid grabbed said mech’s arm and dragged him off out the door.

“What do you think the chances are of Starscream and Airachnid making it up to each other, in berth?” Knock Out asked.

“As much as I hate to admit it, almost certain.” Breakdown answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ll just leave that there, until the next morning that is! Where there will be more madness! You will have probably noticed that some of the Vehicons and Insecticons that fancy the higher ranks are male (Particularly in Dreadwing/Skyquake and Hardshell’s cases). Someone pointed it out to me in the previous fic that some of the Vehicons/Insecticons should have been male in some situations, so I changed it a little here. And yes, I felt Hardshell having a crush on Airachnid would be cute, so I snuck it in there…


	3. Round 2: Screams and Humiliations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t let the title fool you, this fic is still rated T. Some Cybertronian time units you might need: klik = 1.2 minutes, nanoklik = 1 second, breem = 8.3 minutes.

“Where are Starscream and Airachnid?” Skyquake asked.

“Probably still lazing around in berth.” Dreadwing answered, with a shrug. He had no interest in what happened between those two.

“They probably wore each other out last night!” Knock Out on the other hand…

“Who did?” Starscream asked, walking through the door, Airachnid close behind him.

“Who do you think genius?” Breakdown quipped; he had no desire to find out what happened between those two either.

“I think he means us…” Airachnid whispered to Starscream.

“Well then, now that the Nemesis’ lovebirds have crawled out of their nest… how about we get started?” Knock Out asked, hoping there would be no objections.

“You know where you hid the bucket of wires better than we do, Knocks.” Breakdown pointed out, making Knock Out realise this and go off to find it. About a klik later, he returned with the bucket of wires.

“You should all know what this means by now.” He pointed out, before holding the bucket out for them. Each of the group grabbed a wire and held it up next to the others.

“Oh…” Knock Out looked a little nervous and annoyed. He’d got the shortest wire at last.

“About time you got that one. I was beginning to think you really _had_ fixed it.” Starscream sounded rather pleased.

“Who got the longest wire?” _Who is going to be my source of humiliation?_ Knock Out added mentally. He glanced around the other hands holding the wires, and saw who it was.

“That would be me, _doc_.” Airachnid told him, wiggling the wire between her fingers. She paused for a couple of nanokliks, before asking him.

“Truth or dare?”

“I am not being made to do anything ridiculous for your amusement this time! Truth.” Knock Out answered, folding his arms. Airachnid pretended to be disappointed, but then thought of a particularly evil question that she believed she already knew the answer to.

“If you could frag any of the Autobots, who would you frag?” She asked, with as innocent a smile on her face as she could muster.

“You’re seriously expecting me to answer this?” He asked her in response.

“Yes.” Knock Out didn’t like the sound of this.

:: How many of you think he is going to say Optimus Prime? :: She asked the others over a com-link.

:: Without any repercussions; who _wouldn’t_ answer Optimus Prime? :: Starscream answered.

:: I didn’t say that. He probably will think I did though. ::

:: Clever. You want to get him to admit he has a crush on Optimus Prime, don’t you? :: Dreadwing smirked.

:: Of course I do. :: Airachnid answered with a smirk of her own.

“When you are done comming each other…” Knock Out glared at them. They all then turned to look at him. Knock Out regretted saying that now.

“Well, I’d definitely frag Arcee, possibly Bumblebee and Optimus but that’s all.” No cheeping followed that answer and the rest of the former Dare Club smirked at him.

“You just said you’d frag Optimus.” Starscream pointed out him. Knock Out apparently hadn’t realised, if his reaction was anything to go by.

“What? No I didn’t!” Cheeping greeted this answer.

“You kinda did, Knocks.” Breakdown told him. Knock Out took a few nanokliks to go over what he’d said and then realised.

“I said I’d possibly frag him.” It sounded weak, even to him.

“Which means you’ve considered it before?” Dreadwing phrased it in such a way that it seemed like a question. Knock Out didn’t answer, which made them assume he had.

“You _do_ have a crush on Optimus Prime!” Airachnid sounded triumphant.

“I actually don’t.” Knock Out’s face turning pale blue didn’t help his argument, but no one noticed the lack of cheeping following that answer.

“Then why would you want to frag Optimus?” Skyquake asked, deciding now to join in.

“Without any repercussions, who _wouldn’t_ want to frag the enemy leader?” Knock Out used as his excuse. When he didn’t get an answer, he decided to move the game on.

“Who got the next shortest wire?”

“You didn’t answer the question.” Airachnid pointed out.

“You asked, ‘which Autobots would I frag?’ I do believe I answered that!” She reluctantly realised Knock Out was right. He then turned to each of the others.

“Starscream, truth or dare?” Starscream seemed shocked he was asked. Knock Out pointed to the wire in Starscream’s hand. Starscream looked at it and whined, realising everyone else’s wires were longer.

:: Do a dare. :: Airachnid told him.

:: What?! I don’t want to be made a fool of! ::

:: I’ll make it worth your while…:: The seductive way she said that made Starscream consider it.

“Dare.” He answered, much to the surprise of the other mechs.

“Right then, you know how you and Airachnid are partners now?” Knock Out asked rhetorically. Starscream didn’t deign it necessary to answer.

“Doesn’t one partner sometimes sit in the lap of the other?”

“I think I’m going to like this dare…” Airachnid smirked; definitely knowing exactly how to make Starscream uncomfortable.

“Starscream, I dare you to let Airachnid sit in your lap until her turn.” Airachnid began to move over towards Starscream, and was just going to make herself comfortable when Knock Out spoke again.

“Oh, and remove your crotch plating.” Knock Out smirked. Starscream’s squawk of outrage made it worth it.

“You expect me to do this? Do you know how hard it will be to…?” Starscream was interrupted.

“Not as hard as Airachnid is going to make you.” Knock Out added, making the other three mechs laugh and Starscream’s face turn bright blue. Starscream resigned himself to doing it.

“None of you look while I remove it then…” Starscream wasn’t surprised when the only one that didn’t turn away was Airachnid. After he’d removed his plating, he gestured for Airachnid to sit in his lap. She did so, making sure to arrange her legs in such a way they didn’t hit her partner when they twitched.

“You can all look now.” Airachnid told them. They all turned around and sat down; since they felt a bit weird being stood up with the other two sitting down.

“Who’s next?” Starscream asked, sliding his arms around Airachnid; he’d decided if she was going to be sitting on him for the next while, he wanted to be cuddling her.

“I am.” Skyquake answered him. Starscream smirked; he’d been wanting to give Skyquake a dare for a while.

“Truth or dare?”

“I refuse to do any ridiculousness again. Truth.” Skyquake answered, folding his arms.

“Right then…” Starscream paused with a whine, Airachnid had decided to adjust the way she was sitting. Starscream was sure that she rubbed herself against him like that on purpose.

“Skyquake, who do you… Airachnid! Quit fidgeting, I’m trying to speak!” Starscream squirmed a little, she was purposefully moving like that; it was arousing him. _And she must know it… Primus, don’t let me overload from this…_ He thought, his face turning brighter blue.

“But you clearly like what I’m doing, if what I’ve got jabbing my aft is anything to go by!” She told them all, making the other four mechs snigger and Starscream lower his head in shame.

“Can you not move while I’m trying to speak?” He asked her, quietly.

:: I’d like to be able to ask people things without whining and moaning at your actions. :: He added over com-link.

:: Whatever you request, oh sensitive one! :: Airachnid chastised him.

“I do believe I was going to give Skyquake his question, before I was _so_ rudely interrupted.” Starscream ground out, trying not to glare at everyone else for sniggering at his torture.

“Skyquake, who do you have a crush on?” Starscream asked, smirking at him. Skyquake froze at the question. He decided to tell a half-truth, and see if it was noticed.

“Thunderblast, no one else.” Cheeping answered him.

“Hmm… but which was the lie?” Knock Out pondered.

“Do you have a crush on Thunderblast?” Starscream asked, this would answer Knock Out’s question.

“Yes.” Skyquake didn’t sound ashamed of this fact. No cheeps. Dreadwing’s face went bright blue; he and his twin were too alike! The other four started laughing.

“What?” Skyquake asked.

“You do know that Thunderblast has a crush on Megatron the size of Cybertron don’t you?” Breakdown told him. Skyquake’s reaction told him that, no, in fact he didn’t.

“Ignoring that fact, I hope she has a thing for twins.” Knock Out suggested. Breakdown looked as lost as Skyquake.

“What do you mean?” Skyquake asked.

“You mean you don’t know?” Airachnid asked; looking shocked. Skyquake shook his head.

“Your twin didn’t confide in you that he has the hots for her as well?” Starscream smirked; both of the twins blushed at that. He waited for both of the twins to stop blushing before pushing what he’d figured out on them.

“So, you like Thunderblast and… who else?” Starscream smirked; until Airachnid slightly adjusted her position in his lap. Skyquake blushed again; he’d been caught.

“N-no one…” Cheeping answered him.

“I don’t think so.” Knock Out smirked; this was going to be juicy!

“I really don’t want to answer this…” Skyquake pointed out; hoping to be given an out.

“Tough. You have to.” Airachnid told him.

“Or do you _forfeit_?” Starscream hoped Skyquake said yes; he had something really evil in mind.

“What does forfeiting entail?”

“You get told to do something else, which you _must_ do instead.” Knock Out told him, remembering the one time he did with a shudder.

“What do you suggest?” Skyquake thought it couldn’t be worse than _this_ particular secret.

“Make out with your twin.” Starscream was answered with two shouts of ‘What!’ and shock from the others.

“That is… evil.” Knock Out thought grudgingly; he wished he’d thought of it!

“I can’t do that! It’s… wrong!” Skyquake hoped that would Starscream choose something else.

“You either reveal your other crush, or that. Make your choice.” Starscream told him, an evil smirk on his face. Skyquake muttered his answer to the question.

“What was that? Did you say something?” Starscream put one of his hands to his audio. He was enjoying this; the shock of the forfeit had made Airachnid sit still. Skyquake again said it quietly, just loudly enough for all of them to hear. Starscream pretended he didn’t hear.

“Shout it out.” Skyquake growled, before doing so.

“I have a crush on lord Megatron!” He was certain he heard it echo. The other five members of Megatron’s hierarchy looked at him in shock.

“You’re serious?” Airachnid asked, quieter than she normally would. Skyquake nodded.

“Bucket-head spins your turbines?” Breakdown asked, also receiving a nod. None of the others quite knew what to do with this information.

“Now that I have stunned you all with the truth, shall we move on with the game?” Skyquake smirked; he should have been feeling embarrassed, but couldn’t with the looks of shock on the other five’s faces. He waited for a few nanokliks, before speaking again.

“Dreadwing, truth or dare?” That seemed to get everyone’s attention. The other three members of the, now disbanded, Decepticon Dare Club started chanting ‘Dare!’ Dreadwing seemed to be listening and so chose to do a dare.

“I dare you to kneel on all fours and have slime poured and rubbed over you for a breem.” Skyquake saw a few looks of realisation with this dare.

“Isn’t that one of the fleshies’ therapy methods?” Breakdown asked, making Skyquake look confusedly at him.

“I came into the med-bay this one time, and these three were doing just that to Knock Out.” Breakdown elaborated, pointing at the other three, former, Dare Club members.

:: Skyquake, please choose something else! :: Dreadwing purposefully didn’t say this out loud; it would have looked very strange.

:: No. I know your weaknesses, just like you know mine. :: Dreadwing could almost _hear_ the smirk in his twin’s com. _Then he knows about… that._ Dreadwing thought, before reluctantly kneeling down as instructed.

“Let the torture commence…” Dreadwing mumbled under his breath. About half a breem later, all of the other five were armed with the necessary torture devices; as Dreadwing saw it anyway.

“Airachnid, stick him in place; I don’t want him fleeing.” Skyquake told her. She didn’t think Dreadwing would do such a thing, but stuck his hands and knees to the floor anyway.

“I think he also needs this.” Knock Out held a familiar strip of cloth in front of Dreadwing.

“What? You intend to…”

“You all decided I should be.” Knock Out smirked at Dreadwing, before tying the cloth around Dreadwing’s head; covering his optics. _So, not only am I going to have to endure this torture for a breem; I also_ can’t see _who is causing it. Skyquake is bound to tell them where exactly to do it to get the_ best reaction _as he puts it…_ Dreadwing worried.

:: Shall I go first? :: Skyquake asked the others.

:: You dared him, go right ahead. :: Starscream told him. The others had decided that Starscream could be allowed to join in, but only if he didn’t replace his pelvic plating. Thankfully for him; either Airachnid hadn’t the effect on him she’d been describing or he’d calmed down afterwards. Skyquake knelt down beside his twin.

:: How does it feel, knowing that you can’t see what _any_ of us are doing to you, and you can’t escape? :: Skyquake asked, as though he wasn’t the one kneeling by his twin. Dreadwing didn’t deign to answer him, but he did worry about what his twin had said. Skyquake then rubbed a slime coated sponge down Dreadwing’s cockpit, making said mech squirm and, was that a _whine_? _Affecting you that much already?_ Skyquake pondered, before gesturing to the others to come closer. Three of them held a sponge. Starscream however, carried a bucket.

:: Walk more slowly, I have an idea. :: Starscream commed, before picking up his pace. _He won’t be expecting to be hit with anything yet!_ Starscream thought, before tipping the bucket’s contents over Dreadwing’s back; making sure to aim for his wings. A small… _squeak_ was what he heard in response. He thought it couldn’t be; Dreadwing didn’t make such noises.

:: Did you hear that? :: He asked the others.

:: Hear what? ::

:: Did Dreadwing react? ::

:: Hear what? :: The three answers he got from Knock Out, Airachnid and Breakdown didn’t make him feel any surer that he’d heard that at all. Only Skyquake thought to glance down at the poor mech stuck to the floor. He saw a blush on said mech’s cheeks. _So you did squeak!_   Skyquake then commed the others.

:: Make sure to rub his wings thoroughly, whichever of you decide to do them. :: Skyquake saw Knock Out and Breakdown raise their hands, so assumed they would scrub them. He then gestured for them to do so. Both of them knelt down and dropped the sponges; right into the centre of Dreadwing’s wings. Now they were all certain they heard a squeak.

“Was that what you heard, Starscream?” Knock Out asked, receiving a nod. Knock Out and Breakdown then both began to rub the sponges in small circles; like they really were using the slime as a cleaner. Dreadwing squirmed a little, but didn’t make any noise. Skyquake pointed to one side and knelt down, before gesturing to the other side. Starscream knelt down at the other side. Skyquake tightened one of his hands into a fist; then pointed at his hand holding the sponge. Starscream got the idea, and with an evil smirk lifted his sponge over Dreadwing’s side. Skyquake copied him before holding up three fingers. Three, two, one… Both of them then squeezed the sponges. A high pitched shriek answered this action. They also both certain they heard ‘frag’ afterwards.

“Did you just hear…?”

“Yes.” Starscream decided he _really_ didn’t like the evil smirk on Skyquake’s face. Airachnid apparently took it upon herself to ‘stimulate’ the only other area she thought would be sensitive, as she had knelt down beside Dreadwing’s legs. She then lifted the sponge and stroked it right down Dreadwing’s crotch plate. Another high pitched shriek followed this action.

“Now.” Skyquake told them, and all of them began to scrub and occasionally push down on the sponges. It didn’t escape any of their notices that each time someone squeezed a sponge against Dreadwing, he let out a shriek.

:: Let me do something _specific_. :: Knock Out suggested. Skyquake nodded. Knock Out lifted his sponge up and positioned it directly over Dreadwing’s shoulder, before wringing it out. Knock Out had to stifle giggles; that shriek had to have been louder than the others! He then moved around and repeated the action on the other side, again earning him a loud shriek.

“How does your own medicine taste, Dreadwing?” Knock Out asked, not expecting an answer. Dreadwing squirmed, really not liking this.

“Has… has it been a breem yet?” He asked, shrieking when someone, Airachnid but he wasn’t to know that, wrung out a sponge against his aft plates. Skyquake had a glance at the amount of time that had passed. It was almost a breem.

:: Anyone know of a particularly nasty way to finish this off? :: Skyquake asked.

:: Allow me, you all squeeze some slime over his limbs, and I’ll do something else…:: Skyquake didn’t know what she was planning, but decided she could carry it out.

:: Is this going to be one of things you did to me? :: Knock Out asked.

:: Maybe. :: Was the answer. The other four moved to each of Dreadwing’s limbs, with Airachnid moving to kneel beside his stomach. She dipped one of her fingers in the bucket by her side, before moving it to Dreadwing’s stomach. She then began to ‘write’ a word on his stomach with the slime. Dreadwing squirmed at this treatment; he could _sort of_ handle having slime poured over and scrubbed into him, but if they were going to write something on him… _Skyquake is going to pay for this._ He thought, wanting to growl but feeling that if he did someone would pour some slime on him and he would end up making more shrieks. It was when the others did wring slime out on to him again that he did shriek. When Airachnid stood back up was when all of the others stopped. They then all moved to stand in front of Dreadwing before Skyquake lifted the blindfold off.

“Did you enjoy the _attention_ brother?” Skyquake asked. Dreadwing lifted his head and glared up at his twin. It didn’t escape anyone’s notice that Dreadwing’s cheeks were bright blue, either from the noises he was making or… something else. Dreadwing felt the restraints being removed and wasted no time in standing up. This allowed everyone to see exactly what Airachnid had scribbled on his stomach.

“That is… appropriate.” Skyquake just about managed to say, before laughing with the rest of them. Dreadwing grumbled; he was the only one that couldn’t see what was funny.

“What?”

“One of us decided to write something on your stomach.” Knock Out calmed down and told him.

“It says ‘shrieky’.” Breakdown told him, making Dreadwing’s face go the bright blue it had been about half a klik before.

“Can I go and clean this off?” Dreadwing asked the others. All of them glanced to each other, with the same wicked thought in mind. They all then turned back to him and shook their heads.

“Fine, who had the longest straw?” Dreadwing grumbled, sitting back down. The others got the idea and sat down. Except for Airachnid. She waited until Starscream had sat down, and got himself comfortable before sitting down in his lap. She purposefully began to fidget.

“Airachnid! Please stop fidgeting! You’re…”

“Arousing you?” She asked innocently. This made the others laugh when Starscream’s cheeks went blue.

“And I got the longest straw.” She answered Dreadwing.

“Then… Breakdown, truth or dare?” Dreadwing asked.

“Uh… as fun as the last dare was, I think I’ll choose truth.” Breakdown told him. Dreadwing pondered for a few nanokliks before coming up with something.

“If you were into mechs, would you want to try and be romantic with the green Autobot?” Dreadwing knew he would find out either way. Breakdown pondered this.

“Well, if he wasn’t like my rival or something… maybe.” Breakdown’s answer received no cheeps.

“Now for the question of is he into mechs.” Starscream asked, even though it wasn’t his turn.

“I don’t have to…”

“A reluctance to answer will be taken as a ‘yes’.” Airachnid told him, again adjusting how she was sitting in Starscream’s lap.

“No, but admittedly the doc is a good kisser.” No cheeping followed this answer either.

“Can’t say I disagree with you on that one.” Airachnid told the group. Starscream grumbled.

“Right then, is it time for Airachnid to choose?” Knock Out asked. The twins thought it looked a little like he was preening; must have liked the compliments, they thought.

“Oh, alright…” Airachnid sounded disappointed, but she wasn’t that bothered. Starscream must have had better control than she thought he did. _I’ll have to ask him how he did it later._ She thought before crawling out of her partner’s lap. Starscream wasted no time in putting his crotch plating back on.

“Airachnid, truth or dare?” Breakdown asked.

“I’ll choose dare this time.” She told him. The look he gave her made her think this was a bad idea.

“I dare you to kiss every mech sat in here…” Starscream seemed to like the sound of this, Airachnid turned towards him with a smirk.

“Except Starscream.” Breakdown almost laughed at the looks on both of their faces.

“You mean I just had to sit and endure Airachnid sat in my lap for about two breems and I don’t even get anything for it?” Starscream growled.

“You could have taken a forfeit.” Knock Out told him, unsure what he would have chosen for a forfeit at this exact moment.

“Which of you four handsome mechs is first then?” Airachnid asked. Starscream looked at her incredulously. None of them answered her.

“Right then. I know what I’d like first…” She paused on purpose. The four mechs in question pondered at the use of _what_ and not _who_.

“A twin kiss.” She told them, as though that cleared things up. Knock Out smirked; knowing exactly what she was after. _I see I’m not the only one who has been looking at fleshy media…_ He thought.

“What is that?” Skyquake asked.

“It means you and your twin come over here.” She told him. Dreadwing and Skyquake did so, deciding that this meant she wanted them two to go first.

“Which of us two is first?” Skyquake asked.

“Both.”

“Airachnid, unless there is something you are not telling us, you can’t have both.” Dreadwing told her. She smirked, realising the twins had no idea what she was talking about.

“One of you kisses me on one cheek, the other on the other.” Both of the twins blushed; did femmes really want that sort of thing? They glanced at each other, before shrugging and deciding to oblige her strange request. Airachnid saw one twin move to each side of her, making her think something was going to happen. When nothing did for a few nanokliks, she asked.

“Aren’t you two going to…!” Just as she was going to ask if they actually were going to kiss her, both of them did, leaving her mouth hanging open in shock. The twins only kept their mouths pressed against her cheeks for a couple of nanokliks, but she thought it was longer.

“Did you like that?” Skyquake asked her, smirking at her closing her mouth.

“I didn’t think you two could be mischievous like that.” She told him.

“As… interesting as that was, it doesn’t count.” Breakdown told her. _I knew that._ Airachnid thought before turning to Skyquake.

“Shutter your optics.” She told him. Skyquake nodded, before doing so. Airachnid paused for few nanokliks; waiting for him to make the same mistake she did. Skyquake had just started to ask the question, when she pushed her mouth against his, darting her tongue inside. Skyquake stiffened in shock, before relaxing and reciprocating; sliding his tongue out to meet hers. After a few nanokliks, Airachnid pulled back. Skyquake opened his optics and glared at her.

“You are not the only one that can be mischievous, you know.” She smirked.

“That was payback, wasn’t it?” He asked knowingly. Airachnid nodded before moving over to where his twin was.

“You know, when I kiss you; I’ll have kissed every member of the Dare Club.” She remarked. Dreadwing thought back, and realised she was right. He slid his arms around her, in what he hoped was an inviting manner. _He must be one of those that like to hold their partner…_ She thought, before pushing her mouth against his. Both of them slid their tongues out to battle for dominance, making sure to stroke whatever they came across.  Both of them pulled back at the same time, but Dreadwing didn’t let Airachnid go.

“Why is it all of you are amazing kissers?” She asked the whole group. She clearly didn’t mind the thought of what she was doing. Starscream on the other hand… He’d turned his back on the group, and had his arms folded. Airachnid then struggled a little, making Dreadwing realise he still had a hold of her. He let her go and sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

“Maybe because… you hold a secret desire for _all_ of us.” Knock Out suggested, hopefully.

“I doubt it… but I do envy whoever you all end up with.” Airachnid shrugged, before deciding that since Knock Out spoke; he could be next. She went over and stood beside him.

“How are we doing this?” He asked her, quietly so as not be heard.

“How do you want to do this?” She whispered, with a smirk.

“I’d like it if you stroked, _not_ tickled, my sides.” He whispered back. She thought for a moment, before leaning in and pressing her lips against his. She did as he asked, running her hands up his sides. She felt his hands stroking her sides as well as his tongue stroking the insides of her mouth. Both of them pulled back at the same time, Knock Out taking a couple of steps backwards; he didn’t trust her not to tickle him now. _And now we have the dare maker…_ She thought, walking over to Breakdown.

“You know, I wanted to ask you to do this last time.” _But you chose truth._ He added mentally. She looked up at him and smirked.

“You just really wanted to kiss me again, didn’t you?” She said quietly.

“Might have had something to do with it…” Breakdown trailed off, before leaning towards her. She smirked before pushing her mouth against his. Both of them were sliding their tongues around the insides of the other’s mouth, as though trying to map the area. A few nanokliks passed, before both of them pulled away. Airachnid then whispered a question to Breakdown.

“Can I give Starscream a kiss now?” Breakdown pondered it for a few nanokliks.

“Don’t tell him you did your dare.” Was the answer she received. She decided this meant ‘yes’ and so went over to Starscream. She lightly tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump. He turned to look and unfolded his arms.

“I’m not talking to you.” He sounded grumpy; possibly because he knew she wasn’t going to kiss him.

“You don’t need to, just shutter your optics…” She suggested. Starscream didn’t know what she was up to, but did as suggested. She then pushed her mouth against his; making him jump. She made sure to run her hands across his wings and hoped that he’d think to touch her too, she liked her extra limbs stroked. He didn’t know she’d done her dare, but he decided if she hadn’t; he didn’t mind. He made sure to stroke his hands across where her extra limbs connected to her back. She pulled back first, to a little noise of disappointment from him.

“Did you like that?” She quietly asked him. He nodded, but then remembered something.

“Breakdown said you weren’t to do that…”

“Breakdown was the one who said I could; since I’d finished my dare.” Airachnid nearly laughed at the look on Starscream’s face. She got a little shock when he leaned forward and kissed her, again sliding his hands across the area where her extra limbs joined to her back. She rubbed his wings while their tongues did their dance. This time they both pulled back together.

“Why’d you…” She started to say.

“I was going to do that when I was told you’d done your dare.” Starscream told her, smirking.

“Get a room you two!” Knock Out shouted at them, making both of them blush.

“Doc, I’m pretty sure they’ve got one.” Breakdown sounded confused.

“Well, it isn’t here.” Knock Out sounded a little annoyed.

“Are we doing another group dare?” Skyquake asked.

“Not as such…” Knock Out began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just leave that there… You’ll find out what Knock Out was going on about next chapter… And no, Knock Out does not have a crush on Optimus! What it is might be explained later. I don’t know what made me decide that Skyquake was going to like both mechs and femmes but… I did mention Thunderblast, again. Did Dreadwing scream like a little girl? Yes. How many of you thought it was funny when Bulkhead did so? Need I say more?


	4. Group Dare 2: As you Command

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shall we see what the title is getting at? Some Cybertronian time units you might need: solar cycle = 1 day, nanoklik = 1 second, klik = 1.2 minutes, joor = 6 hours.

“What do you mean ‘not as such’?” Dreadwing asked.

“Well… when the Dare Club did a group dare, we all did something one of us picked.”

“So…” Breakdown looked confusedly at him.

“So, I was thinking; why don’t we split into pairs and work like that?” The others considered it, but then pondered something.

“How would that work?” Starscream asked.

“Well, we’d all draw wires again. The pair who got the shortest wire would split up, and would be dared by the other two pairs. The two from the pair with the shortest wire would then dare the pair that dared them.” Knock Out suggested, fishing the bucket full of wires out while telling them this.

“So, you and Breakdown, Starscream and myself, and the twins are the pairs?” Airachnid asked.

“You got it. Now, shall one of us draw wires?” Knock Out asked. He reached for the wire he wanted, with Airachnid and Dreadwing also grabbing a wire. They then held up their wires next to each other.

“Frag…” Knock Out could see quite easily who had the shortest wire. Him. Who had the longest was questionable, however.

“Can we decide which of you two we’d like to dare?” Starscream smirked at them. Knock Out nodded reluctantly; not wanting to be dared by any of them.

:: I’ve got an idea of what to dare Knock Out to do. :: Dreadwing commed the others.

:: Then we’ll dare Breakdown. :: Airachnid answered.

“Knock Out, come here.” Skyquake told him, with a smirk. Knock Out walked over to the twins and Airachnid and Starscream walked over to Breakdown.

“What is your opinion of the Vehicons, Knock Out?” Dreadwing asked.

“They’re a little bit crazy; since they get themselves hurt for no reason… but other than that, I don’t have much of a problem with them.”

“What about the Insecticons?” Skyquake asked.

“They’re terrifying! They’re too big and bulky to have stomping around in hordes around the warship.” Knock Out’s answer made Skyquake smirk.

“We dare you to…” Dreadwing started to say.

“Put a sign up on the door of the med-bay…” Skyquake continued.

“That says ‘Free kisses’.” Both twins said at the same time. The look on Knock Out’s face made both twins laugh.

“I am not giving out kisses to every mech that comes in here!”

“Yes you are.” Dreadwing told him.

“Unless you’d prefer to give them _something else_?” Skyquake asked suggestively. Knock Out shivered and decided the dare was definitely the lesser of two evils.

“Fine! I’ll give out kisses! Now… I’ll need help to show you what I dare you to do…” Knock Out gestured for them to follow him, before heading over towards his computer. He looked for a particular video, before finding the bit he was after.

“I dare you two to act like them for the rest of the solar cycle.” Knock Out then played the video. Dreadwing and Skyquake saw two similar looking humans with orange hair. One of them was lying on a stretcher, apparently with an injured ankle. The other tells him that he can’t continue without him. The first human then reached up and cupped the second’s face telling him it was alright. Knock Out paused the video. One thought sprung to the minds of twins.

“Are those two… partners?” Dreadwing asked, nervously.

“No…” Knock Out paused on purpose, making them worry.

“They’re twins.” Knock Out had to bite his lip so as not to laugh at both of the twins blushing.

“You mean, that human twins sometimes act like they’re… _attracted_ to one another?” Dreadwing thought Knock Out had to be joking.

“It’s also what you two are going to be doing until the end of the solar cycle…” Knock Out told them, sniggering at the identical disgusted looks both of them now wore. While this was going on, Breakdown was standing nervously, waiting for Starscream and Airachnid to tell him what his dare was going to be.

“Err… Are you going to tell me what I’m going to be doing?” Breakdown asked.

“We’re thinking…” Starscream grumbled.

“In that case… can I give you two yours?” Breakdown hoped so; it was making him very nervous standing there.

“Go ahead; maybe it will give Dreadwing and Skyquake time to dare Knock Out…” Airachnid pointed out.

“Alright… Am I right in thinking you two are a couple?”  Breakdown secretly hoped not.

“Yes.” Airachnid then ran her hand up Starscream’s front, making him squirm. That gave Breakdown an idea.

“In that case… Airachnid, I dare you to act over eager with Starscream for the rest of the solar cycle.”

“What… what do you mean, over eager?” Starscream asked nervously. Breakdown smirked.

“You know, making propositions, flirting… you get the idea.” Breakdown told him. Starscream moaned.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I dare you to refuse Airachnid’s advances.” Breakdown saw the shocked expression on Starscream’s face, and had to try very hard not to laugh.

“How do you expect me to…?” Starscream looked completely confused, as well as shocked.

“Easy, you say no and push her away.” _Easier said than done…_ Starscream thought. While Starscream was being given his dare; Airachnid had heard what Knock Out’s was going to be.

“What’s your opinion of the Vehicons and Insecticons, Breakdown?” Airachnid glanced at him before looking at what the other group were doing.

“The Vehicons are good to talk to, and the Insecticons are a bit too big for these corridors.” Breakdown shrugged, not sure what she was getting at.

“Would ever consider cuddling them, either of them?” Airachnid now turned her full attention to Breakdown; she’d finished watching Knock Out’s reaction.

“If I thought they were female, maybe.” Airachnid smirked; Breakdown might be the only mech in the med-bay that would _willingly_ cuddle a Vehicon.

“I dare you offer hugs to Vehicons and Insecticons and, if they accept; give them one.” Breakdown didn’t seem too bothered by this.

“Do I have to hug a specific number of them?”

“Any that ask.” Airachnid smirked, before turning to see what the other three were up to. Apparently, their dares were sorted out as well; as Knock Out was making a sign and both of the twins were looking a little disturbed. Airachnid walked over to them, with Starscream and Breakdown trailing behind her.

“Shall we get going?” Airachnid asked. She then moved off towards the door, grabbing Starscream’s arm and pulling him along behind her.

“Am I allowed to go to take a shower first?”

“No. Unless you both _discuss_ _it_ out in the corridors.” Knock Out smirked. Dreadwing shrugged before walking towards the door, Skyquake quickly following him.

“Breakdown, I will not be requiring your assistance today. You can walk the halls, like I’m sure Airachnid does.”

“That will make it easier to find Vehicons and Insecticons that want hugs.” Breakdown’s comment made Knock Out ponder how their dares were so similar.

“Can you put this sign on the door on your way out?” Knock Out didn’t seem too enthusiastic about this one. Breakdown looked at the sign and made a shocked noise.

“Doc, do you know how many Vehicons and Insecticons are going to see this and turn up?”

“I know full well! Doesn’t mean I want to though.” He grumbled. Breakdown then smirked.

“Maybe, Airachnid will pay you a visit.” _If she can stop trying to convince Starscream to come to bed with her._ He added mentally.

“The twins didn’t say that I couldn’t kiss any of the higher ranks…” Knock Out now hoped that Airachnid _did_ show up. Breakdown now headed out the door, sticking the sign up before heading off towards the bridge to see if he had any duties.

XxX

“I see all of you are making a habit of lazing around in your berths too long.” Megatron glared at Starscream and Airachnid; the only two who were actually in the control room.

“Actually… I think Dreadwing and Skyquake have been sparing…” Starscream told his master.

“Well… Dreadwing had to have got covered in that fluid _somehow_.” Airachnid didn’t elaborate. Megatron looked a little suspiciously at her, but didn’t say anything else. Breakdown chose that moment to come through the doors. He didn’t look at Megatron; he just walked towards where the notice board was. _I’ve been assigned monitor duty… why? Doesn’t Megatron know that Knocks might need my help?_ Breakdown thought.

“I see that even though you  have been lazing in your berth for most of the morning; you know where your priorities should be Breakdown.” Megatron glared at him now. It went unsaid that he shouldn’t make a habit of turning up ridiculously late.

“I’ll get straight on with it lord Megatron.” Breakdown told him, before heading over towards the computers. While he was doing this, Airachnid and Starscream had gone over to the notice board and looked at their assignments. _None again. Megatron must really think that I can’t be trusted with monitor duty…_ She then had an idea.

“Breakdown; I’ll swap duties with you!” _Since I have none, he shouldn’t have a problem with that._ She suggested, glancing at Starscream’s duties. He was given monitor duty as well.

“Uh… sure.” Breakdown shrugged, heading off to see what Airachnid had been assigned. Starscream then saw what his duty was and turned to Airachnid.

“You swapped on purpose, didn’t you?” He smirked at her.

“Is it so wrong to want to spend time with my partner…” She trailed off, pondering about the best things to say to rile him up. Breakdown saw Airachnid didn’t have any duties and so headed out the door, to wander the corridors for Vehicons or Insecticons to hug. While this was going on, on the bridge, the twins were headed towards the wash racks. Dreadwing glanced around and saw a few Vehicons scattered around. There might have been Insecticons as well; but he couldn’t see any.

“What happened, commander Dreadwing?” One of the Vehicons asked.

:: What should I tell him? :: Dreadwing pondered.

:: Sparing? One of them might have told the rest about what he was told by us… :: Dreadwing seemed to like Skyquake’s suggestion.

“We were sparing earlier, and Skyquake knows just the ways to get me all _hot and bothered_ …” Skyquake’s face went pale blue at what his twin had just insinuated; without him realising.

“Dreadwing! You know you can’t be saying things like that to the Vehicons; they’ll distort it out of proportion!” Dreadwing hadn’t realised his twin _wasn’t_ in character and so continued with his ruse.

“So we’re heading to the wash racks, so Skyquake can help me get clean…” Dreadwing paused.

“I need his help with my wings and… _other places_.” One of the Vehicons in the corridor squeaked; liking the way this was going.

:: Are you being serious about this? Do you know how many rumours this will… ::

:: I’m acting brother. You’d be wise to do the same. :: Dreadwing’s reply made Skyquake pause. He knew what he had to do now.

“But… Dreadwing, you know I can’t touch you like that… We’re twins…” Skyquake made sure to look into his twin’s optics.

“Does that really need to matter?” Dreadwing cupped Skyquake’s face, as though reassuring him.

“It’s because we are twins that I want it to be you.” A shriek was heard from the one Vehicon that was interested, before they collapsed. The Vehicon that had asked Dreadwing wished he hadn’t and ran off; planning on telling all the Vehicons who liked _either_ of the twins to follow them around.

:: That was… interesting. ::

:: Not how I would have put it, but yes I suppose it was. :: Skyquake answered his twin over com.

“Shall we go get me clean now, brother?” Dreadwing worded it like that on purpose; just in case more Vehicons or Insecticons were listening.

“If you insist.” Was the reply.

XxX

_Right… now I just have to wait for the Nemesis’ grapevine to work as normal…_ Knock Out was waiting in his med-bay. The rest of them had just left, and he had no patients, for once; but then again, there’d been no battles for a while. _Maybe the usual three will show up…_ He thought, just before he heard a knock on the door.

“Enter.” He called, and sure enough three scraped up Vehicons walked through the door.

“Is… is the sign relating to you?” One of them nervously asked.

“Or your partner?” Another one sounded hopeful when he said this.

“Yes, the sign is relating to me, but…” Knock Out fell silent when saw all three of them running over to him. The first one that spoke perched herself on the berth.

“Kiss me better, doc…” She looked hopefully at him, as though she wanted nothing else. Knock Out shuddered slightly; he didn’t want to kiss any more mechs than he had already. He then realised how out of character he probably looked and changed his expression for one of his trademark smirks.

“If you insist.” He told the Vehicon, before leaning in and touching his mouth against her mouth-plate for a few nanokliks. When he leant back he was sure he heard the Vehicon squeak before she moved off the berth, only to be replaced by one of her friends. Knock Out shrugged, before asking.

“Do you want me to kiss you better too?” He tried not to smirk at the Vehicon’s eager looking nod. He touched his mouth against her mouth-plate as well, hoping not to have to do this too many times. When he pulled back he saw the third one move into her place within a few nanokliks.

“You too?” He asked. The third Vehicon nodded his head as well.

“Answer me honestly, how many of you Vehicons want the high ranking officers to notice you like this?” Knock Out was genuinely curious.

“Uh… quite a lot of us sir.” He answered.

“Any of them have the hots for… Soundwave or Megatron?” He smirked.

“Uh… I think so, sir.” He sounded like he didn’t dare ask the Vehicons in question.

“But you three like me?”

“And commander Breakdown.” It slipped out before the Vehicon could stop himself. _He… wants both of us? Some Vehicons_ must _want both of the twins then!_ Knock Out thought, before leaning towards the Vehicon, shuttering his optics. The Vehicon decided to sneakily retract his face-plate since Knock Out had his optics shut. When Knock Out felt his mouth against another, he got a bit of a shock. He also felt a tongue slide into his mouth. _This one really is eager!_   Knock Out thought, before sliding his own tongue into the Vehicon’s mouth. _Did I really just do that?!_ He pulled back in shock.

“I thought those sheets of metal _were_ your faces…” Knock Out tried to come up with a reason that wasn’t ‘I can’t believe I just slid my tongue into a Vehicon’s mouth!’.

“No, how would we refuel if they were?” The Vehicon told him, his voice sounded different. _Must be a special mechanism in the face-plate, so all of them sound the same._ Knock Out thought, not paying much attention when the Vehicon’s face-plate covered his features again. Knock Out shook himself.

“Are you three feeling better now?” He hoped they didn’t answer with no.

“Yes, doc.” All three of them answered, before heading towards the door.

“Oh, and if any of your friends want me like you do, tell them to pay me a visit.” Knock Out suggested, hoping they heard him. _No one again…_ he thought, heading over to lie on one of the berths. It had been barely a klik when he heard another knock at the door.

“Enter.” He said without moving. He didn’t seem to paying much attention, until he heard a scratchy voice speak.

“The sign on the door says ‘Free kisses’. Are you being the one giving them out?” Knock Out glanced over at who spoke and stiffened. It was an Insecticon. And they seemed to want a kiss. He desperately wanted to tell them someone put the sign up as a joke.

“Uh… yes?” He sounded very nervous. The Insecticon must have noticed what he was doing, as they walked over and stood at the end of the berth.

“Can I… climb on top?” Knock Out thought the Insecticon sounded hopeful. _But I don’t want to be pinned under that… that_ beast _…_ Knock Out shivered just thinking about it. Knock Out wanted to tell them no, but found himself nodding before he could stop himself. The Insecticon appeared to smile, before climbing on to the berth, straddling Knock Out’s hips. _Woah! I really hope that no one comes in and sees this! From the door it would look like I’m…_ interfacing _with him…_ Knock Out shuddered and he was sure he heard a trill from the Insecticon in reaction.

“Can… can I kiss you?” The Insecticon sounded nervous, but like they really wanted to.

“Go ahead…” Knock Out shivered again. The Insecticon must have liked him shivering, as another trill came out of their mouth. He then shuttered his optics, deciding he wanted to be somewhere else. _Anywhere_ that didn’t involve him being pinned under an Insecticon. He then felt a mouth against his and was surprised at how gentle it was. He felt a tongue against his lips, and parted them to allow it entrance. He could also feel hands stroking his plating, quite low on his stomach. _I wonder if that’s one of his sweet spots…_ Knock Out shivered again; unable to believe he’d just thought that. The Insecticon pulled back and trilled again.

“Thank you for agreeing.” The Insecticon climbed off him and headed towards the door. _Didn’t really have a choice…_ Knock Out thought. _I wonder if all of the Insecticons are gentle like that…_ he pondered while waiting for the next knock on the door.

XxX

It didn’t take Breakdown long after leaving the bridge to find his first Vehicon.

“Commander Breakdown? I thought you would be in med-bay!”

“That’s a fine hello.” Breakdown didn’t seem too annoyed.

“Uh… sorry.”

“Been having a rough day?” Breakdown asked.

“Kind of. The other Vehicons told me I had ground bridge duty and I got there and found it full. So I’m going to the bridge to find out what I _do_ have; since I apparently can’t trust them.” He couldn’t believe he was complaining about this to one of the commanders.

“Would a hug make you feel better?” Breakdown asked, in what he hoped was an inviting way. The Vehicon stiffened. _Commander Breakdown_ wants _to hug me?_

“It might…” He settled for, not wanting to say how much he wanted to be cuddled by this particular commander. Breakdown moved over and slid his arms around the Vehicon for a few nanokliks before letting him go.

“I’ll let you get on with what your duty is; Megatron is in a foul mood this morning.” Breakdown told him, before heading off away from the bridge.

“Thank you, commander!” The Vehicon shouted after him, seeming happier. _Now then, who’s next?_ Breakdown pondered to himself, finding another few Vehicons around the corner.

“What are you three doing?” he asked. They seemed to be in a very good mood.

“Um… discussing what happened earlier this morning.” One of them told him cryptically.

“What _did_ happen earlier this morning?” He asked, with a knowing smirk. _Those three are the three Vehicons that get themselves scratched up on purpose just so Knock Out can patch them up._ He realised; seeing the scratches on them.

“Commander Knock Out kissed us!” A different one answered; sounding overjoyed with this fact.

“He did, did he?” Breakdown then pondered something.

“Why?”

“There’s a sign up on his door that says ‘Free kisses’.” The third one told him.

“Um… would any of you three like a hug?” Breakdown saw one of them stiffen and the third one that spoke move towards him.

“If you’re giving them out.” She sounded rather happy. Breakdown responded by wrapping his arms around her. She nuzzled his chest, making him shudder. He let her go straight after that.

“Didn’t know you wanted me like that…” Breakdown shivered again.

“Commander Knock Out is not the _only_ mech in med-bay I come to see…” She told him, before having a thought.

“Kiss him.” She pointed at the one being given a nudge be the second Vehicon to speak.

“Uh… why?”

“You’d make his solar cycle.” The Vehicon told Breakdown.

“Alright, but I’m cuddling him against me when I do.” Breakdown whispered. _I really don’t think he’d mind in the slightest._ The Vehicon thought to herself.

“Come on, you know you want to.” The second Vehicon nudged the first towards Breakdown. Said Vehicon then walked over to Breakdown.

“Retract your mouth plating.”

“Uh… why sir?” The Vehicon looked confused, but did it anyway. Breakdown then cuddled the Vehicon, before pushing his mouth against the Vehicon’s. The Vehicon stiffened but quickly recovered, sliding his tongue into Breakdown’s mouth. Breakdown decided to reciprocate, seeing as he was trying to make this mech’s solar cycle after all. After a few nanokliks, Breakdown pulled back and let the Vehicon go. His visor darkened and he collapsed on the ground.

“Uh… did I do something wrong?” Breakdown asked.

“No, you did something very _right_.” One of them told him, the one he’d hugged he thought.

“Anyway… I think I’ll go check on the doc, see if he needs me.” Breakdown then headed off towards med-bay.

“Follow him.” The female Vehicon who liked both Knock Out and Breakdown told the other.

“Why?”

“What if Knock Out and Breakdown… _kiss_?” The idea nearly made the Vehicon squeal with delight.

“Oh… alright then.” The other female Vehicon headed along the corridor after Breakdown. About a couple of kliks later, Breakdown reached the med-bay doors. He knocked on them, not realising he was being followed.

“Enter.” Knock Out said, sounding a little tired. Breakdown walked through the door, not noticing a Vehicon sneak in behind him and hide.

“What brings you here, Breakdown? I thought you were going to be hugging Vehicons and… _Insecticons_ today.” Knock Out sounded a little disgusted when he said Insecticons.

“I wanted to see how you have been doing.” Breakdown sounded a little concerned.

“I must have kissed about a dozen Vehicons, and a couple of Insecticons… And both of them decided they should straddle me while doing it.” _Wish I could have taken a photo of that! The others would completely crack up seeing that!_

“Does the doc want me to make him feel better?” The Vehicon who was hiding had seen the look on Breakdown’s face when Knock Out had last spoke and made sure to record this. She was happy she did.

“Do you have to hug me?” Knock Out asked.

“Not exactly… but I want to.” Breakdown’s answer made Knock Out climb off the berth and walk over to him. Breakdown then slid his arms around Knock Out, who reciprocated. Both of them stayed snuggled together for a few nanokliks before separating.

“You know… the twins didn’t say I _couldn’t_ kiss higher ranking officers, if you want to?” Knock Out smirked, glancing towards the Vehicon.

:: We have an observer. :: Knock Out commed Breakdown. Breakdown was just about to start looking for them, when Knock Out told him off.

:: Don’t look for him, play along… :: Breakdown smirked at Knock Out’s suggestion.

“Come here, doc.” Breakdown glanced away for about half a nanoklik, and spotted the Vehicon. He made sure to adjust the way he and Knock Out were standing, so the Vehicon would definitely see what it was they were doing. Breakdown then leant down and pushed his lips against Knock Out’s. The Vehicon couldn’t believe it; her friends were going to freak! _They must have had how many fantasies about this sort of thing…?_ She pondered. She then noticed Breakdown was stroking Knock Out’s sides, making him squirm. Knock Out pulled back a nanoklik later.

“Breakdown, that was a little inappropriate!”

:: Just doing it for the audience, doc.:: Was Breakdown’s reply. Knock Out pondered this for a moment.

“You can’t just start doing that in med-bay…” Knock Out then lowered his voice.

“Do you know how much that arouses me?” Breakdown’s cheeks went pale blue. Was the doc acting, or doing this _for real_?

“If you want _that_ kind of attention; the med-bay isn’t the best place for it… Behind a locked door on the other hand…” Knock Out smirked, and then winked at Breakdown. _So he is acting. Thank Primus._ Breakdown pondered what best to say now.

“Knocks, you know we can’t do that kind of thing right now…”

“Perhaps later then; after our shifts?” Knock Out looked hopeful. Both of them then heard a high pitched shriek, before hearing a thud. They both turned to look and saw the Vehicon collapsed on the ground.

“Shall we take him outside?” Knock Out suggested.

“I’ll do it, and I’ll get going. There’s probably a few Vehicons outside the door if the Nemesis’ grapevine is as efficient as we think it is.” Breakdown told him, and Knock Out nodded.

“See you at the end of the solar cycle.”

:: And _not_ for what that Vehicon thinks we’re going to do.:: Knock Out finished the sentence over com; not wanting anyone else to hear. Breakdown nodded, before picking up the Vehicon and carrying her outside, closing the door behind him. It must have been only about half a klik later, when there was a knock on the door. _Here we go again…_ Knock Out grumbled.

XxX

Starscream glanced to the door and saw Breakdown heading out of it. _At least none of the group will see this… Only the pit-spawned gossiping Vehicons…_ Starscream grumbled as he was lead over to the two free computers, conveniently next to each other, by Airachnid. Starscream purposefully moved the seat so he was as far away from Airachnid as possible. Airachnid then moved hers so it was right beside his, and she was still somehow able to see all of the screens on her computer.

“I don’t know why you’d be fleeing from me… _darling_.” She sounded… _different_ but Starscream couldn’t work out how.

“You know how _good_ I make you feel.” She then began to stroke her hands along Starscream’s cockpit, before slowly moving lower.

“Airachnid! This is a public place and you are supposed to be on duty!” Starscream shouted at her.

“Didn’t seem to bother you _last time_ …” Airachnid smirked, touching his crotch plating.

“Last time…” Starscream then moaned, remembering what had been let slip to the others.

“Want me to do that again?” Starscream wanted desperately to say yes.

“You have monitor duty to do. I suggest you get on with it before…” Starscream indicated Megatron with one of his fingers. Airachnid didn’t seem to care.

“It’s not him I’m trying to please…” She trailed off, before lowering her voice.

“It’s _you_.” _She used that voice on purpose! She knows what it does for me…_ Starscream glanced around and saw that none of the Vehicons were paying attention to their monitors either; they were watching him. His face went bright blue.

“Airachnid! We have an audience!” Starscream almost shrieked.

“That’s never bothered you before…” She smirked, purposefully moving her stroking to his wings.

“That’s never bothered _you_ before!” He growled. Airachnid looked confused.

:: Are you being serious or just saying anything to get me to stop? :: She commed. _At least her com voice sounds normal._

:: I’m being serious! I’ve never enjoyed being seen in public being pleasured by you. :: He answered.

:: Explain the one time you and I did something frisky, as Knock Out put it, in public. :: She genuinely wanted to know his answer.

:: I was… quite fired up that solar cycle, and I wanted to not have any duties… :: Was the answer.

:: You mean you wanted to spend that solar cycle having a _long interfacing session_ with me. :: Airachnid seemed shocked, she didn’t think he’d have the inclination, or the stamina. She then glanced over to their lord. _Recharging again… He should probably see Knock Out about it…_

“Seeing as our lord is paying no attention to what’s going on in here whatsoever, how about you follow me to my room?” Airachnid gave Starscream such a suggestive smirk; he almost agreed on the spot. _Breakdown… I’m going to make you pay for this!_

“I still have this duty to… Stop it!” Starscream growled again, the Vehicons sitting watching weren’t sure if it was in arousal or annoyance. Airachnid continued stroking his wings, making sure to run her fingers across _every_ spot she knew was sensitive. Starscream squirmed, biting his lip so as not to moan and announce to everyone around them how turned on he was.

“Stop… it… I am not in the mood!” He managed to grind out. Airachnid put moved one of her hands and stroked it across his crotch plating.

“I think you are in the mood…” She then lowered her voice; she really didn’t want all of the Vehicons to hear the next bit!

“If what I can feel under my hand at the moment is anything to go by…” _Frag! How can I get rid of this without agreeing to her? Maybe…_ Starscream pondered something. What he decided to try seemed to work. Starscream shivered; the Vehicons thought it might be because of what Airachnid was doing to him, but really it was revulsion at what he was imagining happening instead. _I hope she doesn’t keep this up at this pace for too long…_ Starscream thought, before turning his mind back to his earlier imaginings. It was going to be a long solar cycle…

XxX

“Shouldn’t we go and find out if we have any duties, Dreadwing?” Skyquake asked.

“That might mean I get separated from you…” Dreadwing had spotted a few Vehicons around, and so answered like that. It was _easier_ than they thought it would be to do this kind of acting.

“Then… I’ll get someone to swap so we’re both together!” Skyquake then put one of his hands on Dreadwing’s shoulder. Both of them must have decided this was a good plan as they walked off towards the bridge. The Vehicons couldn’t help noticing they were holding hands.

“Did you see that?” One Vehicon sounded rather excited.

“Commanders Dreadwing and Skyquake? Yes.” This Vehicon sounded like he wanted to cover his face with one of his hands.

“They were holding hands! And one of the others said that they were flirting earlier…” The Vehicon began to move about, looking a little too happy.

“With each other?” The second Vehicon asked; not wanting to know the answer in case it was the one he feared.

“Yes! It sounded so sweet!”

“They’re twins! That’s not sweet, that’s… questionable!” The other Vehicon shivered; what exactly did some of the Vehicons fantasise about? _On second thought; if it’s anything like what she does, I_ really _don’t want to know._ The Vehicon thought, shivering again.

“But… The twins should express their brotherly love more often! It’s sweet!”

“There’s no reasoning with you is there?” The male Vehicon walked off, shaking his head. The female decided to head towards the bridge; to see what else happened!

“Do you think Megatron will shout at us?” Dreadwing thought out loud.

“Only if he isn’t in recharge, dear brother.” Dreadwing glanced around and saw no Vehicons or Insecticons in the corridor, making him wonder why Skyquake had said that. Both of them then went through the door. Unsurprisingly, Megatron was indeed in recharge. They decided to go and have a look at what they’d been assigned, and then get to it before Megatron woke up. No such luck.

“Where have you two been hiding for this solar cycle?” Megatron looked rather grumpy; probably because they’d shocked him out of recharge.

“In our room.” Dreadwing then cupped Skyquake’s face; well aware of the number of Vehicons turning to look.

“Haven’t we, dear Skyquake?” He smirked. Skyquake nodded nervously, not sure what his twin was planning.

“But what we’ve been doing cannot be discussed, _can it_?” Skyquake’s cheeks went blue.

“Dreadwing, you said you wouldn’t tell!” Skyquake pleaded with him. This interaction earned a large number of squeals from the Vehicons. The twins looked at Megatron and they could have sworn they saw a bluish tinge to his cheeks.

“Right… you know where your assignments are posted.” Megatron couldn’t look at them; the Vehicons decided that he couldn’t handle their brotherly love! Starscream and Airachnid were trying not to laugh at the antics; they knew it was acting, but they _almost_ believed it. Dreadwing and Skyquake looked at the notice board, and saw they _did_ have the same duty.

“Come on, brother. We have _things_ to be doing.” Dreadwing smirked. Skyquake shuddered, and all of the Vehicons who squealed collapsed. They were probably thinking that the twins were going to be doing each other! Both Dreadwing and Skyquake quickly walked out of the command centre, not wanting to start laughing at what happened. They’d managed to spook Megatron and knock out half of the Vehicons on the bridge with just a few suggestive comments!

:: It would be really inappropriate if both of us started laughing right now wouldn’t it? :: Airachnid sniggered.

:: Just a bit. :: Starscream answered her, happy for the twins’ distraction; Airachnid had finally stopped stroking him. His relief didn’t last long though; she picked up her stroking where she’d left off. _I never thought I’d be wishing for some action around here… But I actually_ want _Soundwave to find one of the relics… It would end this torture!_ Starscream whined; the touches were making him seriously aroused, and there was little he could do about it!

“Give in to the urge Starscream… Let me take you…” Airachnid whispered, gesturing towards the door. Starscream desperately wanted to! _I really hope that Breakdown is the one I get to dare; this is the worst kind of torture!_ As though hearing Starscream’s thoughts, Soundwave chose that moment to come through the door. He had a set of coordinates displayed on his screen, intending to show them to Megatron.

“What is it…? Oh…” Megatron wondered what Soundwave was doing away from his computers and then saw a string of coordinates across his screen.

“Decepticons! Soundwave has located another Iacon relic! We shall get ready to move out within a breem. Anyone who does not wish to be a part of this mission had better stay out of my sight!” Megatron shouted over the intercoms, causing Knock Out to breathe a sigh of relief from his med-bay. _I think I’ll go on this mission; just to get out of here for a while!_ Knock Out began to head towards the door, when he heard a knock on it. _No! I’m not giving out any more kisses until this mission is over!_ Knock Out then headed out of the door, and walked straight into the body of an Insecticon, completely blocking it. He nervously looked up at it.

“Is… this about the sign on the door?” He hoped they said no. The Insecticon didn’t answer and picked him up, before pressing him against the wall.

“Put me down! I am a higher rank than you!” Knock Out squirmed against the Insecticon’s hold.

“And that is why you squirming against me is _very_ appealing!” The Insecticon told Knock Out, before pressing its mouth to Knock Out’s. Knock Out didn’t like this at all, but stopped squirming; fearing that Insecticon would get the wrong impression! The Insecticon was moving its claws against his crotch plate, so Knock Out pulled his head back.

“You do know I could I have you locked up for that!” The Insecticon made a trilling noise.

“Do punish me! But let me see your spike first…” The Insecticon began stroking his pelvic plating again, and Knock Out began squirming.

“Stop it! I don’t want this!” He squirmed some more, making the Insecticon trill in pleasure.

“I was unlucky enough to be on one of the mining operations when you were completely naked… I just want a look…”

“Then ask someone that _did_ see for a picture! I know there were probably dozens taken that solar cycle!” _Instead of molesting me!_ He added in his head; wanting to shout at the Insecticon. The Insecticon apparently hadn’t thought of that, as it let Knock Out go after he’d spoken.

“Sorry… Can I make it up to you?” The Insecticon knelt down, looking rather miserable. _He looks rather apologetic._ Knock Out thought, pondering what he could ask the Insecticon to do.

“How about… you don’t go join this battle, and…” Knock Out only had one thing come to mind, and couldn’t believe what he was about to ask.

“You can help buff out my scratches afterwards?” The Insecticon actually jumped up and down a few times before answering.

“If you’re sure?” Knock Out nodded, a little reluctantly. The Insecticon then ran off inside the med-bay doors, waiting eagerly for Knock Out to come back. _I hope I’m just recharging in the med-bay again… And all of this is just some kind of nightmare…_ Knock Out put one of his hands to his forehead, before heading towards the ground bridge room.

XxX

It didn’t take long for a decent sized group of Decepticons to make their way to the ground bridge room. Starscream and Airachnid were a little conspicuous by their absence.

:: Where are you two? :: Breakdown asked, over a com. He, Knock Out and the twins had decided they _were_ going on this mission.

:: Hiding under the consoles on the bridge. :: Airachnid answered.

:: Megatron didn’t see us; so we don’t have to go. :: Starscream sounded smug, like he was going to finally be able to sort out his arousal.

:: You two will sit in the middle of the bridge.  I will review the footage from there when I get back. _Both_ of you will fail, and will be given a forfeit if I find evidence of you two fragging each other in the footage. :: Breakdown heard a whine from Starscream and an unhappy noise from Airachnid. She knew what she was doing to her partner, and she apparently was being turned on by it as well.

:: Fine. We won’t frag. :: Starscream grumbled.

:: Tell Knock Out to offer the Autobots a kiss, if he’s with you! :: Airachnid smirked, and Breakdown could almost hear it down the com-link. He then closed the connection, before passing on Airachnid’s message to Knock Out.

“What?! Is she serious? I refuse!” His reaction made the other three of them laugh.

“You mean; if you were to end up pinning Arcee to the ground, you wouldn’t kiss her?” Dreadwing asked innocently. Knock Out growled in response.

“Alright… maybe I would.” He grumbled.

“What about… _Optimus_?” Skyquake asked, with a smirk.

“And have Megatron kill me for treason? No thank you.” Knock Out knew the real answer, but wasn’t going to share with the others. It was then that they all glanced around, and noticed that they were the only four stood in the ground bridge room.

“Scrap! We’d better join everyone before Megatron notices we didn’t follow him…” Breakdown shuffled towards the portal, closely followed by the others. All four of them got a shock when they stepped through. There weren’t any Autobots. _Maybe we can grab the relic before the Autobots show up… and then I won’t need to kiss any of them!_ Knock Out thought. Just afterwards, another ground bridge opened and they saw five familiar figures.

“Typical. Can’t we get one of these relics without any opposition?!” Knock Out grumbled.

“Doesn’t look like it.” Dreadwing shrugged, preparing his blaster.

“Autobots!” One of the Vehicons shouted, before a shot knocked him down.

“Decepticons, attack!” Megatron shouted at the rest of them, before trying to discretely sneak off with the capsule. It apparently didn’t work, as Optimus ran off towards where Megatron had gone.

“Well, which of us is going to take on…?” Skyquake started to ask, before having to duck behind a rock.

“I’ll deal with Bulkhead. Knock Out can take on… the yellow one. You two can take on the other two.” Breakdown told them, from his spot behind a rock. The twins glanced at each other, before running at Arcee and Cliffjumper. Knock Out glared at Breakdown. Breakdown was sure he would be thinking something like ‘Now how am I going to kiss Arcee?’ Knock Out grumbled, but got his prod ready and charged at Bumblebee.

“Now… surely you’re not going to let the doc do all the hard work.”  Bulkhead was trying to bait Breakdown, so he would make a mistake. Breakdown wasn’t going to fall for it though.

“You gonna let the bug do all yours?” Breakdown knew what would happen next, Bulkhead would run at him and they’d end up tussling. _Not strictly on my list to do… but it would be funny to see his reaction…_ Breakdown thought just before being knocked on his back by a running tackle.

“What’s the matter?” Bulkhead looked confused; Breakdown didn’t normally fall over that quickly. Breakdown pondered something, before turning his optics towards his rival.

“I’ve been thinking. Why do we even fight now?”

“You seriously want me to answer that? Do you?!” Bulkhead shouted, before growling and charging at Breakdown. This time, Breakdown dodged out of the way.

“I mean, all of us have done terrible things because of the war… Maybe we could try to end it…?”

“By all of us becoming friends with the enemy? Not going to happen, not after you deserted us!” Bulkhead growled again, one of his hands becoming a wrecking ball.

“Look, what are we all really achieving?” Bulkhead actually paused at Breakdown’s words.

“Besides…” Breakdown was trying very hard not to smirk; he knew what was coming next.

“I don’t really want us to fight any more…” Breakdown then looked, and Bulkhead was trying to believe it, _seductively_ at him.

“And I think the best way for us to make up… is to cuddle!” Breakdown then reached for Bulkhead with his arms. Bulkhead looked freaked out, and backed away.

“Look… I…” Bulkhead still backed away; Breakdown was coming towards him.

“What’s the matter? Are you _afraid_ of my affections?” Breakdown looked shocked. Bulkhead decided that his rival must have hit his head on something, and fled since he was acting weird. _Well, that worked._ Breakdown smirked to himself. Meanwhile, Knock Out had Bumblebee trying to land a shot on him.

“You’ll have to… do better than that!” Knock Out taunted his rival, dodging another blast. Bumblebee whirred in annoyance, before running towards Knock Out; if he couldn’t hit him with a blast, maybe a tackle would work. Knock Out didn’t see that coming and was knocked straight to the ground, with a very annoyed Bumblebee holding him down.

“Can we… talk about this?” Knock Out looked hopefully at Bumblebee. The look he received said ‘are you serious?’. He then dodged a punch.

“I… uh, want to talk about this. With _you._ ” Knock Out hoped no one was watching him as he carefully stroked Bumblebee’s grill. He knew that area was sensitive on him, and figured it probably was for the scout too. Bumblebee let out a whirr of confusion, and then his optics widened. Bumblebee then chirped and whirred at Knock Out.

“Do I find you attractive? Are you serious?” Knock Out sounded shocked; he didn’t expect Bumblebee to have that kind of reaction… _Maybe I should play along… and try to frighten him off._ Knock Out smirked, before answering Bumblebee.

“Of course I do. I like how much you rev my engine…” Bumblebee whirred in confusion, at least Knock Out thought that was what it was, again. Bumblebee chirped a question, sounding like he really didn’t want to know the answer.

“Well, you’re the one that’s straddling me.” Bumblebee then realised that Knock Out was right, and scrambled off him in disgust.

“In fact… I’m in a rather good mood at the moment, so why don’t you come here and let me show you some affection?” Knock Out smirked at Bumblebee, who’s optics widened and he quickly turned and ran away. _That worked… better than I hoped!_ Knock Out stood and laughed; unable to believe that the scout would bolt at a little flirtation.

:: Having fun there Knocks? :: Breakdown asked over com.

:: The scout doesn’t seem as interested in me as I am in him! ::

:: What did you do? ::

:: I merely asked if he’d like me to show him some affection, and he ran away like his aft was on fire! :: Knock Out sniggered down the com-link.

:: Bulkhead apparently didn’t want me to cuddle him either, both of them must be terrified of us being actually interested in them romantically! :: Breakdown smirked as well; if that was all it took to scare the Autobots, maybe Megatron should have tried this strategy on Optimus a long time ago!

XxX

:: Do those two have to keep shooting  whenever we so much as peek out from behind the trees? ::

:: It appears that they do, brother. :: Dreadwing winced, nearly getting shot at again.

:: I have an idea. ::

:: Go on. :: Dreadwing sounded very intrigued. Skyquake wasn’t sure his twin would like the idea so much in a moment.

:: Why don’t I let them shoot me… ::

:: No! You are not allowed to do that! :: Dreadwing was quick to interrupt.

:: And I’ll pretend to be more injured than I really am. Then you can run out and ‘help’ me, you know, make the Autobots feel bad. ::

:: They didn’t shoot at Starscream or Knock Out when they weren’t fighting back… :: Dreadwing pondered this suggestion for a moment before giving his twin the ok. Skyquake then moved out from the behind the tree and let one of the blasts hit him. Skyquake cried out, before letting himself fall to the ground. He then began clutching where he got shot, whining about how much it hurt.

“Skyquake!” Dreadwing shouted before running over to his twin. Cliffjumper still fired shots at them, before Arcee put a hand on his arm.

“Why’d you stop me? If that was me running to you; they’d still shoot at me!”

“You’re right Cliff. But just because the Decepticons do something; doesn’t make it alright for us to copy it.” Arcee seemed to get through to Cliffjumper and he stopped shooting at the twins. They looked and noticed that Dreadwing had knelt down beside his twin and was speaking to him.

“Are you alright?” He was genuinely concerned. Skyquake realised the Autobots couldn’t see his face and winked at his twin. He was, but his answer seemed to suggest otherwise.

“It hurts…” He complained, holding his side. Dreadwing put his hand over his twin’s and then spoke to him.

“Should I get you back to base, and let a medic check it?” Dreadwing paused, but the Autobots didn’t know this. Skyquake looked up at his twin hopefully.

“Or would you like _me_ to patch you up? I’m sure I can make you feel better…” Arcee and Cliffjumper’s jaws both dropped; unable to process what they were hearing.

“Is he… _flirting_ with Skyquake?” Cliffjumper asked quietly; hoping the twins didn’t hear.

“They’re making me think of someone… but I can’t think who…” Arcee’s cheeks went pale blue.

“Dreadwing, you know you’re not supposed to…” Skyquake winced, and the Autobots saw why. Dreadwing was stroking his twin’s side, as though trying to soothe the wound.

“Thank you…” Skyquake sounded somewhat relieved.

“You can repay me later…” Dreadwing smirked and both of the Autobots and Skyquake blushed at the thoughts that this put in their heads. Dreadwing then turned to the Autobots.

“I suggest you both get out of here. Before I get angry that you hurt my twin.” Dreadwing started to growl at the end. Arcee and Cliffjumper decided it would be wiser to run away; they didn’t know what Dreadwing was like when really angry. Dreadwing decided it might be wise to keep up the pretence that Skyquake was injured, and so helped him to his feet.

“That worked rather well, didn’t it?” Skyquake asked quietly, leaning into his twin, as though he needed support.

“Better than I could have hoped for. You’re sure you’re alright?” Dreadwing asked to make sure.

“Yes. But we’d better keep them all fooled.” Skyquake slid his arm over his twin’s shoulders, before encouraging him to walk forward. Dreadwing headed back towards where the ground bridge first opened, making sure to move slowly. He wanted the rest of them to believe his brother was injured. It was when they’d all got back to that area that they received a com message.

:: Decepticons!... Return to base… Megatron… has escaped with the relic. :: The message sounded very patched together, so they figured that Soundwave had sent it. A ground bridge opened not too far away from them and then turned to look at the Autobots; who were looking nervously at the group of them.

“Be seeing you… _honey_.” Knock Out winked at Bumblebee before running through the ground bridge; he knew he would be shot at by someone else. Breakdown looked confused, but followed after Knock Out. The twins looked at one another, before deciding to confuse the Autobots a little bit more.

“Now I can take you back to base brother, make you feel better…” Dreadwing tilted his twin’s face up to look at him.

“But Dreadwing… there are Autobots watching…” Skyquake sounded slightly embarrassed of this fact. All of the Autobots looked shocked, and what Dreadwing said next shocked them even further.

“Let them see, I don’t care how many find out how much I care for you Skyquake!” Dreadwing then held his twin, making sure to not touch where he was shot and led him through the ground bridge portal.

“Did… did you just see that?” Cliffjumper shuddered. Bumblebee chirped in confusion and made a beep of affirmation.

“Dreadwing and Skyquake showing their brotherly love? Yeah, I think we did.” Arcee still was frustrated she couldn’t remember who they reminded her of.

“I think they were acting like the red haired twins in that anime that Miko was watching at the base.” Bulkhead pointed out.

“That’s right! That’s who they reminded me of!” Arcee was happy someone had told her. It was at that point that Optimus returned.

“Any luck Optimus?” Bulkhead asked.

“Unfortunately, Megatron escaped with the relic before I could reach him. Are any of you injured?” Optimus asked, glancing around his troops. All of them appeared a little shocked, but not hurt.

“No Optimus, but we’ll tell you what happened when we get back to base.” Cliffjumper told him, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

“Understood. Ratchet, we require a ground bridge.” Optimus nodded to Cliffjumper, then spoke into his com-link. Shortly afterwards, a ground bridge materialised and they all walked through.

XxX

Later on that solar cycle, med-bay…

“Can you believe the reactions of the Autobots?!” Knock Out started laughing again; remembering how much he’d made Bumblebee squirm.

“No. But then again; I wasn’t there. I was on the ship being tortured and unable to do anything about it!” Starscream complained; he wished he could have been there now.

“I wouldn’t call what I was doing to you torture, Starscream…” Airachnid ran her hands along his wings and he squirmed.

“It is for me!” He shrieked when she caught a particular spot.

“Ignoring those two… The reactions of the Autobots were quite funny.” Breakdown couldn’t believe that Bulkhead had run away because he’d suggested that he was interested in him…

“I think the two we fought thought we were seriously into each other.” Skyquake smirked.

“Well… if we didn’t know any different, _we_ would have thought you were into each other.” Starscream told them, before letting out a squeak. Airachnid had moved her attentions to his cockpit.

“I wish you’d stop stroking me!” He growled. He then closed his optics and imagined something. He shivered but the rest of them thought it was at what Airachnid was doing to him.

“Why?” Airachnid asked innocently, before smirking at him.

“You know why! Because you stroking me like this really turns me on!” Starscream shivered again.

“Then how come I haven’t managed to get you to overload yet?” Airachnid asked, making the others laugh at Starscream’s optics opening to stare at her.

“I’ve been stroking you like this for most of the solar cycle, and you haven’t overloaded once.” She told them. The others then decided either Starscream had done something to himself that meant he couldn’t overload, or he had the most stamina of any of them.

“That’s because… uh. Whenever I ended up with an erection that was noticeable I closed my optics and imagined something else.” Starscream’s cheeks went pale blue just telling them about it.

“So what exactly did you imagine that caused you to have the highest stamina of anyone?” Knock Out was rather intrigued.

“I… uh…” Starscream then mumbled the answer. None of them heard it, but his cheeks went a deeper blue just saying it quietly.

“What?” Breakdown put one of his hands to his audio.

“I… imagined it was…” Starscream then paused, looking at the ground.

“ _Megatron_ touching me like that…” The others all looked at him in opened jawed shock.

“Why would you even…?” Knock Out started to ask.

“Because it definitely worked.” Starscream shuddered, before turning his attention to Skyquake.

“But if you’d done that, it would have only made it worse; wouldn’t it?” Starscream smirked, and Skyquake’s cheeks went pale blue.

“I think we can stop with the dares now. It is nearly the end of the solar cycle.” Dreadwing decided to try and actually save his twin from being questioned further. Airachnid then stopped stroking Starscream.

“Agreed, and we can all meet back up in here tomorrow. For another round.” Knock Out smirked; looking forward to it. Starscream then decided to sneak up behind Airachnid while she was paying attention to Knock Out. He tilted his head and whispered to her.

“Turnabout is fair play.” He then started stroking her extra limbs, making her squirm. It was when she squeaked that the others turned to look.

“You two! Seriously, get a room!” Knock Out shouted at them. Starscream didn’t pause in what he was doing; Airachnid had been tormenting him like this for the past joor or so, he felt she deserved it.

“Go to one of yours and sort out your frustrations there!” The ‘instead of here where we can see it’ went unsaid by Dreadwing, but everyone thought it. Starscream smirked, before picking Airachnid up.

“Put me down!” She growled at Starscream, seriously not wanting to be carried through the Nemesis’ halls in Starscream’s arms.

“But you and I are going to berth now. And I’ve a few things I need to sort out… and you have a few more areas to touch…” He whispered seductively, making Airachnid stiffen; hoping the other four didn’t hear him. The door slid shut behind the two of them and the other four started sniggering.

“I wonder what exactly those two are going to do…” Knock Out smirked.

“Nothing I want to hear about.” Breakdown answered, before heading towards the door.

“Each other, I’d imagine.” One of the twins said. Breakdown made a noise of disgust, before walking out of the door. Dreadwing and Skyquake shrugged, before heading off as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That will do I think… This is getting rather long as it is. And yes, the orange haired twins were the Hitachiin twins from Ouran High (which I don’t own either). Cybertron High School Host Club? Yes please! Oh… and what Knock Out was told to do, was suggested by sanuraskitty on A03.


	5. Round 3: Fascinations and Revenge!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, someone is going to get revenge here! You’ll find out who when you read on… Some Cybertronian time units you might need: klik = 1.2 minutes, nanoklik = 1 second, solar cycle = 1 day, breem = 8.3 minutes.

“I didn’t expect you two to be here for a while yet…” Knock Out told the two that had just walked through the door.

“Why would that be?” Starscream looked confused; even though he had a vague idea what Knock Out was getting at.

“Well, you two probably tired each other out, with your excursions last night!” Knock Out was a little surprised when Starscream’s cheeks didn’t turn blue at the suggestion.

“We might have…” Starscream smirked. Knock Out was the one who looked shocked for once.

“Whatever you two did last night, I don’t want to hear about it!” Breakdown told them off when he came through the door.

“Jealous?” Starscream smirked at Breakdown, who grumbled. _Yes as it happens._ He thought, not daring to voice that thought out loud.

“When those twins decide to show up… maybe we can actually find out who is going first this time.” Airachnid silently hoped it wouldn’t be her. She enjoyed going last; it meant she got to watch the other five humiliate themselves first!

“I’d like to go last, since that _never_ happens.” Starscream glared at Knock Out, who shrugged innocently.

“What never happens?” Dreadwing asked from the door, making both Starscream and Airachnid jump.

“You and Airachnid _not_ fragging each other at night?” Skyquake asked, making Starscream blush and the others laugh.

“Well, that never happens. But he was actually saying he never goes last when we draw wires.” Knock Out agreed, sniggering.

“Shall we draw wires, and see if he actually _does_ get to go last for once?” Dreadwing hoped this didn’t happen at his expense. Knock Out nodded, before going off to collect the bucket with the wires in. When he returned about half a klik later, the rest of them gathered around him. They all reached into the bucket and grabbed one of the wires, before holding them all next to each other.

“I… I actually have the longest wire.” Starscream’s optics flickered off for a nanoklik in shock, before returning online.

“So… Who is it I will be asking?” He glanced around the group with a smug satisfaction. He hadn’t noticed that Airachnid’s wire was the next longest; so she would be asking him. He noticed who had the shortest wire and nearly crowed at it. _Revenge!_ He thought, very tempted to shout.

“Breakdown, truth or dare?” Starscream asked. Breakdown looked rather nervous; Starscream was going to get his revenge for what he was put through last solar cycle.

:: Choose dare. :: Knock Out sent him over com. Breakdown thought about it for a nanoklik, before replying with.

:: Only if you choose truth. :: Knock Out apparently hadn’t realised he was next, as he answered with ‘deal.’ _You’re going to regret agreeing to that. I’m going to be the one to ask you, and I know just what to ask!_ Breakdown thought, before answering Starscream.

“Dare.”

“Did you enjoy frightening…? Bulkhead, I think his name is, last solar cycle?” Starscream asked. Breakdown wasn’t sure where Starscream was going with this, but answered anyway.

“Kind of. I don’t think he knew how to handle it, more than me frightening him.”

“You think he didn’t know how to handle your _affections_?” Starscream sniggered.

“Then how do you think he would react if you were to go… _further_?” The shocked looks on everyone’s faces made Starscream laugh.

“What exactly do you mean, ‘further’? Because I’m not about to force him.” Breakdown told Starscream, hoping that wasn’t what he had in mind.

“What do you mean what do I… oh. No, that isn’t what I meant! What do you take me for?” Starscream didn’t receive an answer and so continued with his dare.

“Breakdown, I dare you to kiss Bulkhead.” Breakdown’s jaw dropped.

“How? I’m not exactly on good terms with him as it is.” He looked confused.

“Why don’t we lure him out the same way we lured out Optimus?” Airachnid asked, glancing at Knock Out, who shivered in remembrance of that situation.

“With a small stack of energon and crossed fingers?” Dreadwing sounded ponderous.

“It worked last time, didn’t it?” Starscream shrugged, before heading towards the door of the med-bay.

“I’ll collect the energon; I’ll meet you all in the ground bridge room.” Starscream told them over his shoulder, before going out of the door. The others soon followed. About a breem and a half later, they were all gathered in a forest clearing. Breakdown was stood nervously guarding the stack of energon, and the rest were hiding behind the trees, talking to each other over com-link.

:: Do you think that Bulkhead will turn up? :: Skyquake asked.

:: Not without back-up. I hope Breakdown is good at quick thinking. :: Airachnid shrugged, before turning around to peek out from behind the tree. A ground bridge opened and they saw a green mech step out of the portal, followed by a red mech with horns and a blue femme.

“Breakdown? Why are you out here? Megatron kick you out of the mines for making a mess?” Bulkhead growled at him.

“Actually… I came here hoping to see you, bringing a peace offering with me.” Breakdown told him. Arcee and Cliffjumper where suspicious; Bulkhead hadn’t told them exactly what had happened between him and Breakdown.

“You… you were serious? I thought you’d hit your head or something…” Bulkhead looked even more confused.

“Of course I was serious. Why would you think I’d suggest such a thing if I wasn’t?” Breakdown looked a little annoyed. Bulkhead seemed shocked, but not as much as Arcee and Cliffjumper.

“What is he getting at, Bulk?” Cliffjumper asked.

“Something that doesn’t need to concern either of you… You’d be better heading back to base.” That wasn’t like Bulkhead, both Arcee and Cliffjumper thought at the same time.

“This better not end up like the MECH incident.” Arcee told him, before calling for a ground bridge. After she and Cliff had gone, Bulkhead turned back to Breakdown.

“So, you brought energon. For what? To try and show me you can behave?” Bulkhead sniggered, disbelieving of his rival.

“Actually, you can have it…”

“Wait, really? I can just take this?” Bulkhead looked shocked, more so when he was interrupted.

“On one condition.” Breakdown told him. Bulkhead paused, as if to say ‘what’s the condition?’

“You let me do something to you.”

“Not beat me up I hope…” Bulkhead grumbled.

“I’ve told you, I have _developed_ affection for you. Why would I want to beat you up after that?” Bulkhead pondered this for a few nanokliks, before motioning for Breakdown to do what he was going to do.  Breakdown… _sauntered_ towards him. Bulkhead then became nervous. _What’s he planning? He shouldn’t be walking like that; it’s almost like he wants to show off…_ Bulkhead then shuddered.

:: Frag… maybe we should have found a hiding place further away…:: Starscream cursed. He was trying very hard not to laugh, as were the others.

:: Maybe, but it’s too late now! :: Airachnid sniggered, thankfully not out loud. While they were discussing this, Breakdown had made his way over, and was now stood right in front of his rival.

“Shutter your optics.” Breakdown whispered. Bulkhead looked more worried, but did as he was asked. Breakdown then had a thought before leaning back towards Bulkhead’s audio.

“Pucker up.” Bulkhead stiffened, before asking.

“What do you mean by…” He then said no more as he felt a mouth on his, and a tongue slide inside. He opened his optics and saw exactly what he thought he was going to. He decided that was… somewhat disturbing and shuttered his optics again. He also decided that even though this was 1. His rival, and 2. A mech; he thought it felt good. That thought disturbed him further and he pulled back. He shouldn’t be thinking those things about Breakdown!

“Did you… _like_ it?” Breakdown asked; trying to sound hopeful. Bulkhead really didn’t want to answer that, and so he stayed quiet.

“Because if you did…” Breakdown paused, before lowering his voice.

“Maybe we’ll have to try a… _different kind_ of fighting.” Breakdown then smirked at Bulkhead. Bulkhead himself could only think of one way to react to such attention, and such a thought. He screamed, and ran away. That got them. The five that were hidden behind the trees started laughing at that.

“Did… did…” Skyquake couldn’t get the question out, he was laughing too much.

“He just scream like a femme?” Dreadwing finished, somehow.

“Apparently you are not the only mech that does!” Starscream had calmed down a little bit, but started laughing again at Dreadwing’s expression.

“He also forgot that I said he could have the energon cubes.” Breakdown picked them back up before turning to the others.

“Let’s get back to base, before Megatron realises that all of us are missing.” The others all instantaneously stopped laughing at that comment. Airachnid opened a ground bridge portal; again only she’d thought about how they were going to get back. All of them quickly scurried through the portal that opened. They purposefully didn’t hang around in the corridors; too many witnesses, and quickly headed back to the med-bay. Once the doors had slid shut; they decided to discuss who was next.

“Right, who got the next shortest wire?” Knock Out asked.

“You did.” Breakdown paused. Knock Out looked both nervous and shocked. _Breakdown is going to be the one to dare me? I don’t think so! He’ll know_ exactly _what to do to completely humiliate me!_ Knock Out thought before hearing Breakdown ask him ‘Truth or Dare?’

“Truth. Because I know you know the best way to humiliate me!” Knock Out decided he really didn’t like the evil smirk Breakdown had directed at him. _Yes I do; and you’ve just walked right into it!_

“Explain about this fascination of yours… with Optimus Prime.” Breakdown wasn’t the only one with an evil smirk after hearing that. The others decided they _absolutely_ had to know this as well.

“I am not answering this!” Knock Out glared at Breakdown for suggesting such a thing.

“Yes you are. No one else has forfeited truth, and you aren’t going to either.” Starscream glared at him. _You made me tell the truth; you aren’t getting out of it!_

“Alright! Fine…” Knock Out grumbled. It didn’t escape his notice that everyone had gone quiet.

“First off… I don’t have a crush on Optimus.” Knock Out was pleased his answer wasn’t met by cheeping; it was met by groans though.

“Did you expect me to say I did? Actually… I appreciate his rims and paint job more than anything else…” Breakdown smirked; he had his suspicions about that. _Maybe that’s why the doc keeps me around; my paint job is kinda like Prime’s and my rims are the same sort of thing… I think._

“What are you going on about?” Starscream pondered; he couldn’t work it out and the other three couldn’t either.

“I’m not sure you’d get it… But I… have an appreciation for other ground frames that can pull off a glossy finish like I do… and that can make 24 gauge rims look good.”

“So… you like the fact Prime can pull off these rims…” Skyquake still didn’t get it.

“And the glossy finish…” Airachnid shrugged; she figured it must be a grounder thing. Or maybe a Knock Out thing.

“But you don’t have a crush on Optimus?” Dreadwing asked.

“That’s correct.” Knock Out told them. No cheeping answered him, and so he decided to move on.

“So stop telling me I have a crush on Optimus when I _actually_ don’t!” Knock Out sounded triumphant.

“Who’s next?” He glanced around the others, trying to recall who had the next shortest wire.

“I was…” Dreadwing decided to point out. He noticed the other four had all pulled out their wires and who had the next longest wire.

“Truth or Dare?” Knock Out asked; silently hoping that Dreadwing would choose dare.

“Truth. I am not doing anything else ridiculous for your amusement.” _I already did that yesterday._ He silently added.

“If Megatron said he would promote you if you did something… intimate to him, would you do it?” Knock Out asked; secretly hoping someone would bring up Skyquake’s thing for Megatron.

“What do you mean by intimate?” Dreadwing hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was.

“I mean if he asked you to touch his spike… with either your hands or mouth.” Dreadwing’s cheeks went pale blue at that suggestion.

“My twin definitely would…” Dreadwing sniggered; Skyquake nudged him as if telling him not to speak of this again.

“But… I’m not sure I’d degrade myself in such a way.” Dreadwing answered.

“What if this happened… in our lord’s quarters?” Knock Out decided to ask; hoping Dreadwing would answer this query.

“I… might consider doing it if such a thing happened in that instance yes.” Dreadwing’s answer seemed to please Knock Out for some unknown reason.

“Not an exhibitionist then?” Starscream asked with a smirk.

“No.” Dreadwing said in a tone that denoted he wasn’t saying any more on the matter. _Unlike Airachnid and yourself._ He added in his head.

“Now then… who is next?” Dreadwing knew the answer; but wanted to make them squirm. Skyquake then got nervous; he knew why his twin looked so smug. _He’s going to get his revenge; I just know it!_ Dreadwing then decided to turn his attention to his twin.

“Skyquake; truth or dare?” Skyquake decided he really didn’t like the smug look on his twin’s face.

:: Choose dare. :: Breakdown told him.

:: Why? :: Was all Skyquake could answer.

:: Because your twin did one; and I think you should too. :: Skyquake was unsure of Breakdown’s logic but decided to agree with it.

“Dare.” Skyquake instantly regretted that answer when he saw the evil look his twin was giving him.

:: Remember I know exactly what you don’t like, dear brother. :: Skyquake could _hear_ his twin smirking, was that what he’d sounded like too?

“Skyquake, I dare you to walk through the corridors for a breem…”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” Skyquake didn’t realise his twin had paused.

“In your protoform, with something of my choosing written on your front and back.” Dreadwing finished.

:: No! I refuse! Choose something else, please! :: Skyquake hoped his twin would change his mind.

:: Turnabout is fair play Skyquake. :: Dreadwing smirked at his twin.

“Can… I take a forfeit?” Skyquake asked hopefully. Dreadwing wanted this. He knew his twin wouldn’t forfeit when he heard the suggestion.

“If you forfeit; you have to go up to lord Megatron and tell him how you feel about him, with _everyone_ watching.” Skyquake’s cheeks went bright blue at what his twin suggested. _So I either wander around the corridors for a breem without any armour on, or I go up to Megatron and tell him I’ve got the hots for him. Either way; I’ll look a fool…_ Skyquake pondered this for a few more nanokliks.

“The dare is the lesser of two evils.” Skyquake answered.

“Remove your plating then.” Airachnid was the one to suggest this.

“Right now?” He looked nervous.

“Yes, right now.” Starscream told him.

“With all of you watching…?” His cheeks flushed a little.

“In the dare club; we all got rather used to seeing each other without armour.” Knock Out told him, sniggering. Skyquake decided he _really_ regretted the dare he’d gave his twin now.

“Can you not look?” Skyquake looked hopeful. Dreadwing motioned to the others to turn their backs. They shrugged but then did so.

:: Didn’t expect Skyquake to be as shy as that. :: Breakdown pointed out; the others agreeing with him.

:: His twin certainly wasn’t! :: Airachnid told the others, sniggering a little at the end. While the rest of them were reminiscing, or Breakdown’s case, being filled in; Skyquake had removed his armour.

“What is it you want to write on me?” Skyquake asked; hoping it wasn’t going to be too rude or revealing any of his secrets. Dreadwing answered by pulling out a strip of cloth.

“You won’t find out.” Dreadwing then tied the cloth over Skyquake’s optics.

:: Does anybody want to find me something _non-permanent_ to write on my twin with? :: Dreadwing asked the others. Knock Out went off to find something that matched. About a klik later, he returned with a pen that looked similar to the ones he used to write on Megatron’s wall that one time.

:: These had better be non… ::

:: Relax. These ones are; it says they can be washed off with a little soap and water. I do think I picked the best colour though; don’t you? :: Dreadwing held the colour beside his twin’s armour and saw that it matched perfectly. He nodded, before moving over beside his twin. He then wrote something on Skyquake’s front; across the top of his chest. Airachnid had quietly snuck over to take a picture for the highest ranked female Vehicon and she made sure to glance at what had been written.

:: That is… evil. It is also very like what you’ve done to the rest of us. :: She told Dreadwing; who smirked at her.

:: It might teach him not to think up such evil dares for me then; mightn’t it? :: Airachnid couldn’t argue with that. Dreadwing moved around to his twin’s back and wrote the same thing. This time it was written across his wings. Airachnid had taken a picture of Skyquake when Dreadwing had moved to his back. She sent it to the highest ranked female Vehicon, with the caption ‘Guess who is walking the corridors in his protoform this time?!’ _I think that means that Skyquake’s fan club will be waiting in the corridors… to do exactly what it says on his front!_ Airachnid thought, with a snigger. She then moved back over to where the others were stood and turned her back. Dreadwing glanced over and saw that the rest of them still had their backs turned. He removed the blindfold from his twin.

“What did you write?” Skyquake asked.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Now, off you go.” Dreadwing smirked. Skyquake decided he didn’t like it, but headed off out of the door. Dreadwing let the door slide shut before locking it. His twin would be locked out for at least a breem. _Probably longer; if the Vehicons he runs into have anything to say about it!_ Dreadwing thought, before motioning to the others to come join him by the screen; they were going to find out what happened to his twin, whether his twin liked it or not!

XxX

_I really hope that Dreadwing hasn’t wrote any of my secrets on my front and back… I’d hate for any of the Vehicons to find them out; everyone will know!_ Skyquake nervously wandered through the corridors, silently hoping that all of the Vehicons were busy. His hope didn’t last however. He spotted a small group of them stood just up ahead.

“I’ll have to show you the picture; if what they said was true, I hope we find him!” One of them said. Skyquake could only just hear them from where he was standing, trying to become invisible.

“No way would commander Skyquake wander the halls in his protoform!” Another of them told the first.

“His twin did… and he was _hot_!” A third said, making Skyquake shiver.

“Speak of the handsome devil…” The fourth one said, before pointing behind the other three. They all turned around and Skyquake could have sworn he heard a squeak.

“Can we?” One of them asked.

“He wouldn’t have it written on him if he didn’t want us to…” Another told them.

“In that case, since I’m highest ranked; I call _that_!” A third pointed at him, Skyquake wasn’t sure where at.

“Wings.” The first and second ones both said at the same time.

“Then where can I…” The fourth one asked. The third one pointed again, and the fourth one seemed to like that. All four of them then walked over towards him.

“Um… can I help you?” Skyquake looked nervously at them; he didn’t like how they were surrounding him.

“No… but we can oblige you…” The third Vehicon told him. This one was the highest ranked female Vehicon and she couldn’t wait to do just what it said on Skyquake.

“Oblige? What do you mean… ‘oblige’?” Skyquake asked, not liking how two of the Vehicons had gone around behind him. The other two were a little too close to him as well.

“Just stand still and enjoy it, commander.” The highest ranked female Vehicon told him. Skyquake stiffened; what did he mean by that? He then felt four sets of hands stroking him, two on his wings, one on his cockpit and the other… Skyquake’s cheeks went bright blue; this felt _too_ good.

“St… Stop!” He winced; he was going to end up losing control if they kept up the touches. All of the hands stilled.

“Do you really want us to stop?” One of the two Vehicons behind him asked.

“Yes!” _This is really arousing!_ He added in his head.

“But… you’re clearly enjoying it.” The Vehicon who’d had their hands on his… Skyquake couldn’t bring himself to think on that. It was only going to make it worse. Said Vehicon looked downwards towards his middle. Skyquake glanced down and shrieked, covering his spike up. _I knew that felt too good!_ He thought; his cheeks returning to that bright shade of blue.

“If you knew how it would affect you… why would you write ‘touch me’ on you?” One of the Vehicons asked. Skyquake lowered his head, silently burning with humiliation. _So… that’s what Dreadwing wrote on me. He knew how badly it would affect me! I’m definitely not daring him to do anything particularly evil again!_ Skyquake thought, before realising the Vehicons were expecting him to answer.

“I… uh… wasn’t expecting you to be as… forward as that.” Skyquake answered them, before continuing on.

“If you want to… you can, but please leave my spike alone.” Skyquake sounded ashamed at the end.

“Can we touch you with our mouths too?” He was almost sure that Vehicon had been the one stroking his spike, but he couldn’t quite tell. Skyquake figured he should probably say yes.

“If you want to kiss me… I don’t mind.” The Vehicons seemed pleased with this answer. The highest ranked female Vehicon took advantage of this, by parting her faceplate and putting her mouth against his. Skyquake wasn’t sure about this; he hadn’t kissed anyone on the mouth before but decided he’d best enjoy it. The Vehicon nearly squealed when she felt him kissing back. Skyquake did squeak, when he felt something sliding over both of his wings and his cockpit, that didn’t feel like hands or fingers. He pulled back from the Vehicon he was kissing and glanced down; he saw one of the Vehicons running his _tongue_ over the glass of his cockpit.

He shivered, figuring that the two by his wings were doing the exact same. He began to fidget, as though saying to the Vehicons that they’d had enough. Both of the two Vehicons in front of him moved back and Skyquake couldn’t feel any touches to his wings, so he figured the other two had moved away as well. Which is why he got a shock when he felt two mouths on him, one on each cheek, a few nanokliks later. _Is this what Airachnid felt like when Dreadwing and I did this to her?_ Skyquake pondered, not realising that both of them had pulled away.

“Thank you commander.” One of them said, he wasn’t sure which.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“For letting us touch you.” It might have been the same one that said this. He then saw the two Vehicons in front of him begin to move past. He got a bit of a shock when he felt one of them, he wasn’t sure which, grab his rear. The four of them then ran off, all of them sniggering. Skyquake shrugged, before heading off in the opposite direction. He regretted that quite quickly as every time he passed a group of Vehicons, he felt a hand either grab or smack his rear. The Vehicons themselves seemed to find this quite funny. Skyquake didn’t; it was humiliating, because each time they did it he’d jump. He was starting to get a bit sick of it, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at who it was, and nearly squeaked.

“Am… I allowed to, commander Skyquake?” An Insecticon asked him. _No! You’re really not!_ Was how he wanted to answer, but he decided he’d better let them.

“If… if you want to.” He reluctantly answered. The Insecticon made a happy sounding trill, before picking him up and holding him against its chest. Skyquake squirmed a little; but this only seemed to make the Insecticon happier. He turned around and placed Skyquake beside the wall. Skyquake didn’t like this; he had the feeling he was going to get someone touching his back. He started to turn around but the Insecticon stopped him.

“I’d like to touch your back.” He whispered. Skyquake shivered, but turned back to face the wall. He relaxed a little when he felt the Insecticon’s hands stroking his shoulders. The Insecticon also started kneading his shoulders, as though trying to get him to relax more. Skyquake didn’t; he was too nervous that someone would try something if he did! The Insecticon persisted however, slowly massaging his way down Skyquake’s back. The Insecticon seemed pleased when he felt the seeker start to relax a little. When the Insecticon had finished he asked.

“Did you enjoy that?” Skyquake seemed to take this as a reason to turn around and did so.

“Surprisingly… yes.” _You’re the first one who hasn’t tried to annoy or arouse me!_ He added in his head.

“Thank you… for letting me massage you.” The Insecticon sounded pleased and he walked off, probably towards The Hive. Skyquake decided since there wasn’t anyone around; he’d check his chronometer. _What? How has it been two breems?!_ He realised he could actually go back to the others and began to run in the direction of the med-bay.

He, thankfully, didn’t find any more Vehicons or Insecticons in the corridors on his travels and quickly went through the door. He expected that the rest of them would be all looking at him when he walked back in. What he didn’t expect was all of them, but his twin, to walk towards him. He also didn’t expect all four of them to slide their arms around him in a hug. It only lasted for a few nanokliks, but after they all pulled back he felt a hand smack his rear.

“Airachnid! I know that was you!” He shouted at her. The other three laughed; Airachnid hadn’t expected to be caught.

“What? It’s too tempting. I can see why the Vehicons couldn’t resist either.” She clarified. Skyquake’s cheeks went blue; he wondered just how much of what happened they had seen.

“Did you enjoy the attention, dear brother?” Dreadwing asked him with a smirk.

“How much of that humiliation did you see?” Skyquake sounded worried.

“ _All_ of it.” Knock Out told him; with a smug smirk on his face.

“Including…?”

“Including when the Vehicon stroked your spike, yes.” Starscream finished for Skyquake. Airachnid made a mental note to ask if it was the highest ranked female Vehicon that had both kissed Skyquake and gave his spike a stroke; since she reckoned it was the same Vehicon that did both.

“Can… one of you please get this off?” He pointed at the writing on his chest. Dreadwing shrugged, before asking Knock Out to find a sponge, soap and some water. A few kliks later, Skyquake had been cleaned and he’d put his armour back on. He then turned to Airachnid.

“Truth or dare?” He asked her; hoping she picked dare.

“Truth.” She smirked; like she knew what he was hoping for. Skyquake thought for a moment, before asking her what he’d come up with.

“Have you ever kissed a femme, and if you have, who?” Airachnid looked to be considering it for a moment.

“Well… I’m pretty sure I kissed her when we got drunk together once…” She paused wistfully, making all of the other mechs curious.

“Who?” Skyquake looked confused; he didn’t think her the type.

“Thunderblast.” Both Dreadwing and Skyquake’s cheeks went blue and with the other three laughing; they didn’t hear the cheeping to answer this statement.

“R-Really?” Dreadwing asked; seriously hoping not.

“No, silly. I didn’t; but I wish you could see the looks on your faces!” Airachnid began laughing as well and both of the twins let out a sigh of relief.

“You… didn’t answer the question.” _But you did wind us up pretty well._ Skyquake added in his head.

“No, I have never kissed another femme.” Airachnid’s answer wasn’t answered by cheeping.

“Right, now that that is over… Starscream, truth or dare?” The look on Starscream’s face said ‘frag; I hoped she wasn’t going to be the one to ask!’

:: Choose dare. :: She commed him.

:: No way! You’ll humiliate me! :: Airachnid thought for a moment.

:: If you choose dare… I’ll also let you choose something else… _when we go to berth_. :: She lowered her voice; knowing what that did to him.

“Dare.” He answered almost straight afterwards. _Got you._ Airachnid thought, before turning to the others.

“What would _you_ like him to do?” Airachnid liked the look on Starscream’s face. He looked terrified.

“I’d like to see him kiss the female Autobot. Give him a taste of his own medicine.” Breakdown told her. _Arcee? Starscream and Arcee? Now there’s an interesting thought!_ Airachnid added in her head.

“I’m pretty sure you could think of plenty ways to humiliate him on your own but…” Knock Out paused.

“I wouldn’t mind him going up to Megatron, who is probably taking a nap right now, and climbing into his lap.” Airachnid nearly started laughing at the picture that put in her head. _I wonder if Megatron would decide Starscream is a femme and try to kiss him…_ She sniggered at the thought.

“I’d probably want to command him to do things… embarrassing things.” Skyquake smirked; knowing what he was going to suggest if this idea was chosen. _So… Skyquake wants_ all _of us to choose a way to humiliate Starscream… He really is as evil as his twin._ Airachnid thought.

“Maybe he should try and make it up to someone else; with a kiss, like he did you?” Dreadwing suggested. _So… Dreadwing was the one who suggested that in the first place!_ Airachnid smirked in realisation.

“ _All_ of those are good…” Airachnid paused for a few nanokliks.

“Starscream… I dare you to go up to Arcee, and tell her you’d like to make it up to her…”

“How on Cybertron am I supposed to…?” Starscream got a shock when she interrupted him.

“By doing _whatever_ she asks you to.” Airachnid smirked. She’d tried to combine the dare suggestions as best as she could; but she couldn’t quite incorporate them all. Starscream’s face had gone pale blue.

“Um… can I forfeit?” He decided to try and find out what the lesser of the two evils was.

“If you do… You have to climb into Megatron’s lap and kiss him.” Knock Out smirked; she _did_ manage to find a way to use his suggestion after all.

“No. Way.” Starscream growled; deciding his dare was _definitely_ the lesser of two evils.

“I suppose that means we are going to the storage room to get some energon to lure out the Autobots again…” Knock Out sounded a little disappointed; but he knew Starscream was going to end up humiliated either way.

“Let’s, before Soundwave can realise that we’ve been in there again…” Breakdown started to move towards the door, with all of the others following behind him.

XxX

_Why is it, every time that we need to lure out the Autobots for someone… we come to this clearing?_ Starscream pondered in his mind. It was helping distract him momentarily. The rest of them had learned from last time and hid a little further away. It didn’t take long for a ground bridge portal to open and some Autobots to come through. The red horned one, and… Arcee. Starscream became even more nervous; he couldn’t predict how the red horned one would react.

“Did one of the cons make you do this Scream?” Cliffjumper asked, a small smirk appearing on his features. _I can’t answer that… first rule of dare club and all…_ Starscream thought to himself.

“Every time we come to into this forest detecting energon… there’s one of you high ranking cons guarding it. And you always ask for a specific one of us.” Arcee summarised what the Autobots had experienced so far.

“So which of us two do you got the hots for Scream?” Cliffjumper smirked at Starscream; whose face had gone bright blue. The Autobots thought he’d been caught out. The rest of the cons didn’t; but three of the five of them were trying very hard not to laugh; at Starscream, Knock Out and Breakdown.

:: See Knocks, even the Bots think you have a crush on Optimus! :: Knock Out could almost hear Airachnid’s smirk.

:: Because I acted like I had one when I did that particular dare. :: Knock Out sounded a little too annoyed for Airachnid to tease him anymore, so she decided to see what Starscream would do.

“As it happens… you, my dear.” Starscream turned to smirk at Arcee.

“She’s taken.” Cliffjumper smirked; hoping to deflate Starscream’s spirit a little.

“I’m not here for that! I’m here to… make it up to her.” He sounded cross. Arcee then glared at him.

“You mean for capturing and torturing my partner?!” She screeched at him. _In both senses of the word?_ Starscream thought; he wasn’t going to ask it out loud.

“Yes… if that’s what you would like it be for.” Starscream nervously answered.

“How do you intend to do that?” Cliffjumper was genuinely curious.

“In whatever way she’d have me do.” He answered; hoping she didn’t order him to do something that would offline him.

:: I think I know. Remember that particular punishment Jack mentioned? :: She commed Cliffjumper; wanting his opinion.

:: You mean the one that parents give to naughty children? Fits. :: Cliff told her with a smirk.

“Get down on your hands and knees.” Arcee told Starscream out loud. He looked nervous, but did as asked.

“Can you remove your crotch plating while knelt down?” Starscream looked shocked at what she was asking.

“You expect me to do this? Right now?” Starscream looked worried; just what was she going to ask him to do?

“Yes, she does; unless you’d like to pay with your spark instead?” Starscream decided he better not test her or Cliffjumper’s patience.

“Alright, but don’t touch.” _There’s only one Cybertronian besides myself allowed to touch that; and it isn’t you!_ Starscream added in his head. A few nanokliks later, his crotch plating lay on the ground beside him.

“Lower your head.” Starscream decided he didn’t like this now; he wouldn’t be able to see what they were doing. He reluctantly did so, starting to shiver a little.

:: I’ve worked out what they’re planning! :: Airachnid told the others over com. She very quickly got four replies of ‘what?’ and so commed the others what it was.

:: Starscream might not be able to sit after that! :: Knock Out told her; he knew what it was as well. The other three looked confused still.

:: You’ll see what it is in a minute; I get the feeling he should have realised what they’re going to do by now, but he hasn’t for some reason. :: _He’s definitely done it before…_ She added in her head; she’d been the one to do it to him after all, but the other four didn’t need to know that!

Starscream had shuttered his optics; not wanting to see what manner of horror they were going to inflict on him. _I hope they aren’t going to shove anything between my…_ He didn’t get to finish the thought, as he felt something hit off his rear. It didn’t hurt, much. The one that came a couple of nanokliks later did.

“Hey! That hurt!” He shouted at whoever it was behind him.

“Getting your rear smacked is supposed to hurt, or at least that’s what Jack told us.” Cliffjumper answered; before smacking Starscream again. Said mech cried out, now knowing that this was a human punishment made his cheeks go pale blue. Cliffjumper and Arcee seemed to think it was funny that he cried out every time one of them hit him.

“What are you not to do?” Arcee asked, after about a klik of this.

“Uh… torture your partner?” He sounded unsure; but that might have been from how much his rear had to be hurting at this point.

“Right. Now repeat after me; changing the ‘yous’ for ‘I’s’ where necessary.” Arcee told him. Starscream groaned, but agreed.

“Sit.” Cliffjumper told him. Starscream reluctantly did so, being very careful not to flinch. His rear did hurt; and Cliffjumper probably knew it too.

“You are a naughty mech who needs to learn how to behave.” Arcee started what she wanted him to say.

“I am a naughty mech who needs to learn how to behave.” Starscream repeated.

“You are not to torture mechs or femmes.”

“I am not to torture mechs or femmes.”

“You are not to flirt with me.” When Arcee said this she got a com from Cliff; making her stiffen.

“I am not to flirt with you.” Starscream parroted, but then wondered why she hadn’t said anything else. _Is that it? Am I allowed to cover myself back up yet?_ He pondered. While he was doing this, Arcee and Cliffjumper were discussing something over com.

:: Starscream told me something rather interesting once; about him and Airachnid. :: Cliff told her.

:: Oh? ::

:: About them being into each other. ::

:: Starscream and Airachnid huh? Think she knows how he feels about her? :: Arcee asked.

:: Why not get him to repeat it, only if it _is_ true? :: Cliff suggested. Arcee smirked, before nodding at him.

“Stand up and face those trees.” Cliffjumper told him. Starscream looked confused, but did so. He’d completely forgotten that’s where the rest of the Cons were hiding.

“Only repeat this one if it _actually_ is true, and shout it out if it is.” Cliffjumper whispered to him. Starscream looked nervous.

“You have a crush on Airachnid.” Starscream’s cheeks went blue.

“I have a crush on Airachnid!” He shouted. Arcee couldn’t help sniggering; she knew Airachnid would have heard that; Cliff had told her she was hidden behind those trees, and was probably appreciating what she could see.

“Why?” Cliffjumper asked; with an obvious smirk.

“Because she is the sexiest femme ever to grace the Decepticon ranks, and she can command me any solar cycle!” Starscream was certain he heard more than two people laughing at him.

“I think we’ll leave you to pick up what little is left of your dignity Scream.” Cliffjumper told him, before transforming and driving off. Arcee wasn’t far behind him.

“I think you’re right about him picking up what’s left of his dignity Cliff!” Arcee laughed.

“Not sure if I’d just done that in front of you I’d be embarrassed, though…” Cliffjumper told her, making her smile internally.

:: You gonna come join us Starscream? :: Breakdown asked.

:: Err… that would be a good idea, wouldn’t it? :: Starscream answered before walking over towards the rest of them.

“I can command you any solar cycle, can I?” Airachnid asked with a smirk. The other four started laughing again.

“Yes… do you have any commands for me?” He bowed, apparently still not realising.

“As much as I am appreciating the view… go and retrieve your crotch plating, and the energon cubes.” Airachnid started to laugh at the look on Starscream’s face; apparently he’d forgotten he didn’t have his plating on! Starscream glanced down and quickly covered his parts up. When he turned around and started to walk towards the pile of energon cubes he was certain he heard Airachnid speak.

“I can’t say I blame Arcee… I know I’d want to hit that!” Starscream’s cheeks went blue; he knew they had done it already. _Maybe I ought to return the favour…_ He pondered while reattaching his plating. He collected the energon cubes and then went back to the others.

“Shall we go back to the Nemesis to discuss things, instead of out here where we risk being caught?” He asked, sounding a little annoyed. He had a sneaking suspicion that the others would ask questions.

“Fine.” Knock Out sounded grouchy. Starscream knew he would want to ask questions.  Airachnid again opened the ground bridge and the group all headed through. Only once they had made their way back to the med-bay, did the questions start.

“What exactly was that?” Dreadwing asked Starscream.

“It’s a human punishment. Usually performed on younglings by their parental units.” Airachnid explained; Starscream looked a little embarrassed by it.

“So… why did Arcee do it to Starscream?” Breakdown asked.

“Probably because she thought it would be a good way of humiliating him.” _Or she thinks he_ acts _like a youngling!_ Airachnid added silently.

“Then… why do _you_ want to do it?” Knock Out asked with a smirk. He had his suspicions what the answer would be.

“Because… couples sometimes do it to each other.” Airachnid decided she didn’t like the look that Knock Out was giving her.

“Have you?” He asked.

“The details of what we get up to behind closed doors are not open for discussion!” Starscream told Knock Out, his cheeks flushing blue again. Airachnid didn’t answer either. The others decided this meant yes, they had tried it.

“Anyway… Are we doing a group dare now?” Breakdown asked, wanting to get off this topic. Unlike the other three; he had no desire to hear about what Airachnid and Starscream got up to behind closed doors.

“I have an idea about that…” Dreadwing started to tell the rest of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ll just leave that there; until next chapter! For your benefit; yes it was the highest ranked female Vehicon that kissed Skyquake (and gave his spike a stroke), in case that wasn’t clear.


	6. Group Dare 3: Out of Character

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title will make more sense when you read on. (I am fully aware of how the characters have been acting in the first place; that has been done intentionally.) Some Cybertronian time units you might need: klik = 1.2 minutes, cycle = 1.25 hours (note: IDW definition of a cycle), solar cycle = 1 day, nanoklik = 1 second, breem = 8.3 minutes.

_“I have an idea about that…” Dreadwing started to tell the rest of them._

“Alright then; what is your idea?” Starscream asked; happy that attention was no longer on him.

“Remember our final group dare last time?” Dreadwing asked. The shivers he got in response told him that yes, they did.

“Why don’t we do the opposite?” Now he received confused looks.

“What do you mean by that?” Skyquake asked.

“Instead of _looking_ like someone else, why don’t we _act_ like someone else?” Dreadwing saw the realisation appearing in the other five’s optics.

“How are we deciding who should act like who?” Starscream asked.

“I actually know how we could do that. I’ll just fetch some electrical tape…” Knock Out told them before wandering off. About half a klik later, he returned with the bucket of wires.

“Right, allow me to explain how this will work. Each of these wires represents someone different now. As I know which is which; I am going to go last. If you draw out the wire that represents you, I will tell you to put it back. If not; I will tell you who you are going to be acting like for the next three and a half cycles.” Knock Out smirked before holding out the bucket.

“Airachnid; you can go first.” He held the bucket towards her.

“Why?” Starscream asked, sounding a tiny bit annoyed.

“Haven’t you ever heard of femmes first?” Breakdown looked surprised by this fact. Starscream then scratched the back of his head and motioned for Airachnid to move forward. She did so, and grabbed one of the wires. It had a bit of red electrical tape wrapped around the bottom of it.

“That’s… interesting.” Knock Out sniggered. Airachnid looked confused.

“You will be acting like… _me_.” He told her. She then changed her stance and answered him.

“That will be just _fabulous_ darling!” She answered, making four of them laugh.

“I do _not_ act like that!” Knock Out glared at her. She sniggered, before telling him to continue with a wave of her hand.

“Breakdown; you’re next.” Knock Out ground out angrily. Breakdown stopped laughing and moved towards the bucket. He grabbed a wire; it had a yellow bit of tape wrapped around it.

“Put that one back.” Knock Out told him. Breakdown did so.

“Why am I yellow?”

“Matches your optics, and Dreadwing was blue so…” Knock Out explained away while mixing up the wires. Breakdown then grabbed another wire, this time it had black tape wrapped around it.

“I think I like this one!” Knock Out sniggered.

“You have to act like… _Airachnid_.” Breakdown looked shocked; surely it would be better for Starscream to act like her? But he then had an idea.

“Does this mean I have to walk like this?” He asked, before proceeding to walk away from the group; purposefully wiggling his aft.

“I don’t do…”

“Yes you do.” Starscream interrupted her. Airachnid continued to grumble that she didn’t, but the rest of them ignored her; Starscream was right.

“Starscream, you can draw next.” Starscream didn’t get Knock Out’s logic, but did so anyway. The wire he’d grabbed had a green strip of tape wrapped around it.

“That is… too perfect!” Knock Out was trying very hard not to laugh at the irony.

“You need to act like… _Skyquake_.” Everyone else worked out why this was funny now. Skyquake and Starscream were opposites in terms of how they acted around Megatron.

“So… I have to kiss up to Megatron for the rest of the solar cycle then?” Skyquake’s cheeks turned a little pale blue at the suggestion.

“Possibly… Skyquake, you can choose next.” Knock Out shrugged. Skyquake chose a wire and knew who he would have to act like.

“So… Do I need to help Airachnid in here? Or am I supposed to wander the halls and chatter to the Vehicons?” Skyquake asked. Knock Out now realised something and had to try very hard not to laugh at it. Dreadwing was going to be the last one with a choice. And because of who was left; it wasn’t really a choice!

“I’ll pick this wire, and you can have the one that is left.” Dreadwing told Knock Out before grabbing the wire. It had a blue bit of tape attached to it.

“Actually, you have the remaining wire in the bucket. Knock Out lifted it out and swapped wires with Dreadwing. This wire had a bit of white tape on it.

“So I will be acting like…” Knock Out started to snigger at the look of confusion on Dreadwing’s face.

“ _Starscream!_ ” Again; the two had opposite opinions on their lord and master. Dreadwing raised his head, before smirking at the rest of them.

“Well… at least I get to act like the best one of us.” He also adopted a more stuck up tone to his voice.

“I do not sound like that!” Starscream complained. Knock Out then began his act.

“I suppose that means I’ll have to kneel at our lord’s feet, and behave more… honourably.” He said, sounding like he was nervous about this for some reason.

“Do we actually do our normal duties, or the duties of the mech or femme we are acting like?” Breakdown asked, hoping he didn’t have to train the Insecticons. Dreadwing was the one to answer.

“You do your normal duties; this is the opposite of last time.” The others seemed to agree. Four of them headed for the door, leaving Knock Out and Breakdown to try and work out how they were going to act when those three Vehicons inevitably turned up.

XxX

“You are making a habit of turning up late.” Megatron did not sound happy.

“Master, I have had confidential reports to fill out. I think you would rather that someone who wasn’t supposed to read them didn’t.” Starscream told Megatron, making sure to bow respectfully at the end. _I suppose not._ Megatron found himself thinking. _Hang on…_

“What are you up to now, Starscream?”

“I am merely doing as you ordered, master.” Starscream bowed again. This didn’t reassure Megatron; it only made him more suspicious. _Starscream is up to something… I can feel it._ Megatron decided there was little he could do at the moment, and turned to Airachnid.

“What’s your excuse?” While he was asking her, Starscream had moved over to the jobs board; found his and gone over to the monitors. _Without complaint_. Megatron was sure something was up now; Starscream always complained about monitor duty!

“I have to make myself presentable, lord Megatron.” She told him with a flourish, bowing rather flamboyantly.

“Alright; what are you up to?” Megatron looked annoyed and confused, one of them acting strange was a coincidence; two was a pattern.

“I will have to find that out lord Megatron.” She then moved over to the board, and found out what it was she would be doing.

“Surely monitor duty is a waste of my talents?”

“In that case, go and train that unruly pack of Insecticons!” Megatron growled. Airachnid _shuddered_. She looked like she was going to argue, but then saw the look in Megatron’s optics.

“V…Very well, lord Megatron.” She then walked off out of the door.

“A good leader wouldn’t intimidate his troops like that.” Megatron glanced at Starscream, expecting him to have said that, but saw Starscream looking at the monitor. _He doesn’t look like he is paying attention…_

“Starscream!” Megatron still shouted at him.

“What is it, my one true master?” Starscream turned to look at him. Megatron was glaring at him for some reason. _Dreadwing… you better not get me into trouble! I know that was you!_ He thought before wincing at Megatron’s words.

“What is it I have told you about making comments about my leadership?”

“I would only be telling you how right your leadership methods are, master.” Starscream inclined his head, as he couldn’t exactly bow when sitting down.

“That is not what I just heard!” Megatron glared at him.

“Why would I say something against your leadership? You are my one true master, no other could compare.” _Who are you and what have you done with Starscream?!_ Megatron thought to himself; no way was he going to give Starscream the satisfaction of knowing he’d rattled him.

“A good leader would remain calm in situations like this and listen to what his troops had to say.” Megatron this time glanced at the other two that hadn’t spoken yet; Dreadwing and Skyquake.

“At least… that’s what _I’d_ do.” Megatron now realised who it was and glared at him.

“You’d best keep your opinions to yourself Dreadwing. Unless you’d like to find out first-hand what happens to traitors!” Dreadwing visibly stiffened.

“I was only giving my opinion, just because it doesn’t agree with yours doesn’t make it wrong.” Dreadwing then saw Megatron’s fusion cannon pointed at him.

“Did I not just tell you to keep your opinions to yourself? Do I have to show you why you should?” Dreadwing heard the fusion cannon powering up and reacted exactly how Starscream would.

“Please, master! Don’t fire at me! I’ll be quiet and behave!” Some of the Vehicons were trying very hard not to laugh; what had gotten into the higher ranks? Commander Dreadwing cowering on the ground was too funny!

“Then be silent and get out of my sight!” Megatron growled. Dreadwing quickly checked what the board was asking him to do this solar cycle and then ran out of the door; not wanting to test Megatron’s patience further. Skyquake nervously shuffled his feet; realising Megatron’s attention was on him now.

“Uh… I’ll just find out what I’m meant to be doing and leave you alone, master.” Skyquake nervously wandered towards the jobs board, everyone was looking at him! He saw what he was meant to be doing and went out of the door, shivering at everyone’s optics being on him. _Is there something in the energon this solar cycle?_ Megatron pondered, before adjusting his position in his throne. _Must be…_ was his last thought before dozing off.

XxX

_Seriously… No one has been injured, all solar cycle? Impossible!_ Knock Out thought, before pondering about whether that meant that those three Vehicons were going to be turning up shortly.

“Maybe our three admirers will be along shortly.” Breakdown suggested.

“I hope so; it does get boring standing in here when there is no one to look after.” Knock Out silently prayed for someone to turn up at the door. His prayers were seemingly answered in the next few nanokliks, when both he and Breakdown heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.” He answered; knowing that wasn’t what he usually said. He wasn’t surprised to see three Vehicons coming through the door. What did surprise him was what Breakdown was doing. The Vehicons seemed just as shocked as he was. Breakdown was lying on one of the berths, with his arms up behind his head and one of his legs crossed over the other. It looked… unprofessional to say the least. _It also is something that Airachnid would probably do to rile mechs up!_ Knock Out realised.

“Breakdown; that is not how a medic’s assistant should act.” Knock Out told him off.

“Do you really mind?” Breakdown adjusted his legs, so the other one was now on the top. The Vehicons shivered, what was with the commanders today?

“It is unprofessional!” Knock Out told him, looking somewhat ashamed. The Vehicons seemed disappointed when Breakdown climbed off the berth and stood beside Knock Out.

“You ruin all my fun!” Breakdown pouted. Knock Out had try very hard not to break character and laugh; Breakdown was doing a very good job of acting like Airachnid.

“What was it you three wanted?” Knock Out asked, acting as though he was ignoring Breakdown.

“Uh… we got hurt when trying to clean the engines again…” The one who was stood in the middle told him, showing Knock Out her scratches. He looked over them with a disapproving optic.

“You three should really be more careful!” He told her off.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me better?” The Vehicon looked hopefully at him. Knock Out shuddered; remembering the last time these three came into his med-bay all too well.

“Such contact will not heal up these scratches. Nor is it acceptable behaviour. I am your commander after all.” Knock Out told her. The Vehicon pondered what was with Knock Out; the last few times she had come in here, he had been all too eager.

“If you’d like…” The Vehicon jumped; she hadn’t realised that Breakdown was beside her.

“I can kiss you better.” She stiffened; this wasn’t what she’d had in mind, at all.

“Breakdown; that sort of behaviour between the ranks is not tolerated.” Knock Out told him. The Vehicons looked shocked. Who was this red mech, and what had he done with Knock Out? The mech and the femme in the group then almost squealed at what happened next.

“Surely, you can make an exception Knocks. After all, these three do seem to like your attentions...” Breakdown had put one of his fingers under Knock Out’s chin and tilted his face up to look at him while he was speaking. Knock Out shivered. He also silently hoped that he was blushing; it would help keep up the illusion that he and Breakdown seemed to have concocted.

“Inter-rank fraternisation is banned. It is one of the rules. These three are no exception.” Knock Out answered. Breakdown seemed to take this as his answer for a few nanokliks, before speaking again.

“You didn’t seem to mind when it was me and you that broke the rules.” Knock Out knew he was blushing now; he only hoped these three Vehicons hadn’t heard about, or saw the evidence of, Knock Out and Breakdown kissing in the med-bay. This time, the Vehicons did squeal and collapse on the floor. They remembered what Breakdown was getting at _all_ too well.

“Did you have to bring that up?” Knock Out asked Breakdown.

“It stopped it getting more awkward in here for both of us didn’t it?” Knock Out didn’t answer. Breakdown then moved over to where the three Vehicons had collapsed, pulling out his buffer.

“We’d better get the scratches off these three, and then leave them outside.” Knock Out shrugged, before fishing out another buffer and helping his assistant. A couple of kliks later, the Vehicons were free of scratches and being carried out of the door.

“So… now that these three are fixed, can I go for a wander?” Breakdown asked, having come back inside the med-bay.

“I don’t see why not; it is one of the only things Airachnid seems to do after all.” Knock Out told him quietly, he was sure Dreadwing wouldn’t say something like that. Breakdown shrugged and then headed for the door.

“Well then, I’ll see you later…” Breakdown paused, making Knock Out worry a little bit.

“ _Handsome…_ ” _Breakdown!_ _That isn’t even funny!_ Knock Out shivered, hoping that no Vehicons heard that. He seriously hoped that Breakdown was just speaking in character when he said that.

XxX

_Ugh… Why is it that Megatron always puts me on monitor duty? Maybe, if he sat at these monitors for a couple of cycles_ without going into recharge _he would actually understand my complaints about it._ Starscream complained in his head; knowing that Skyquake wouldn’t complain.

“If I were leader, this duty would be left to Soundwave. He is the best one at it after all.” Dreadwing told all of them who were listening.

“Soundwave has to attempt to decode the Iacon database; that is more important than surveillance at this time.” Starscream told Dreadwing, purposefully avoiding what he really didn’t want to say; it was hard enough saying it earlier this solar cycle!

“Surely he is capable of doing both; my time would be better used elsewhere.” Dreadwing complained, purposefully lowering his wings like Starscream did when he was frustrated.

“Soundwave is doing as he was ordered by lord Megatron; you would be wise to do the same.” The Vehicons sniggered, had Dreadwing and Starscream swapped looks again? Dreadwing was acting like Starscream and vice versa.

“Do you think that they are doing the dare club again?” One of the Vehicons asked the others.

“Maybe.” Another answered him.

“It would explain why they’ve been acting weird these past few solar cycles!” A third said.

“It’s not just the original four of them either…” The first one spoke again.

“Oh! Skyquake and Breakdown have been acting strange too!” The second one said.

“Don’t remind me… I’m friends with one of the four who first spotted Skyquake when he was wandering the halls and she won’t shut up about how attractive he is…” Complained the third one, laying his head on the desk.

“What do you mean?” All three of the Vehicons turned around in shock; they hadn’t noticed their lord had woken up and had, apparently, snuck up on them.

“Uh… nothing lord Megatron.” The first one quickly answered.

“I don’t think so! If I find out that those four have started up the dare club again… I’ll have their heads!” Megatron growled. The Vehicons shivered; they really didn’t mind if they had started up the dare club again; it made working on the Nemesis a lot more interesting! Luckily for both Dreadwing and Starscream, Soundwave came through the doors at that moment; before Megatron could query about the dare club.

“What is it Soundwave?” Megatron asked, seeming to calm down. Soundwave walked closer, to make sure that Megatron could see the line of code written on his screen.

“Another relic?” Soundwave nodded in response to his leader.

“Decepticons, Soundwave has located another relic! You have three breems to prepare yourselves for the mission and go to the ground bridge room, if you decide you would like to go on this mission.” Megatron then stormed out; clearly not happy with what he had overheard the Vehicons talking about. Starscream and Dreadwing both stood up and headed for the door as well.

“I suppose this mission may require my assistance.” Dreadwing shrugged.

“You heard our lord and master! He requires our assistance in retrieving the relic!” Starscream shouted at the Vehicons.

“We must go to assist him!” Starscream then followed Dreadwing. The Vehicons looked confused but some of them decided they would go on this mission; their favourite of the officers was going, so they would too!

:: Brother, Soundwave has decoded another relic. :: Skyquake jumped; he was busy on ground bridge duty and wasn’t expecting his twin to contact him.

:: Are we all going to assist him?:: Skyquake realised what his twin was getting at.

:: We might be, when we tell the others.:: Dreadwing answered. Skyquake could swear he could hear his twin smirking.

:: Do you think that we will confuse the Autobots?:: Dreadwing asked.

:: Or weird them out. :: Skyquake smirked, deciding that he was going to go on this mission.

A couple of breems later, all of the group who were playing truth or dare were stood around in the ground bridge room.

“So, is our _fearless_ leader going to join us some time this solar cycle?” Dreadwing pointedly crossed his arms and tapped one of his feet on the ground.

“He should be along soon.” Skyquake spoke next. Both he and the other three were trying to convince Starscream to argue about Megatron.

:: No. Way.:: All of them sniggered at his response.

“What is it you all find so funny?!” The three of them that were facing away from the door; Knock Out, Breakdown and Starscream, jumped and turned around. The other three sniggered, Megatron had frightened them.

“Lord Megatron, we are pleased you could join us.” Both Knock Out and Starscream bowed and spoke to Megatron. Megatron looked surprised. _What are they up to now?_

“I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence, lord Megatron.” Dreadwing smirked. Megatron growled in response.

“Do not test my patience Dreadwing!”

“Lord Megatron can choose whether or not to show up for a mission.” Starscream started to say, feeling a little embarrassed at all of the Vehicons that were looking at him.

“And at what time he feels like showing up. He does not require yours or anyone else’s authorisation, Dreadwing.” Megatron was certain they were up to something; he was being criticized by _Dreadwing_ and defended by _Starscream and Knock Out_!

“Our lord should probably learn to be here earlier than the rest of us then!” Breakdown smirked. Megatron decided he must have been imaging that Breakdown wiggled his hips when he spoke.

“He has to look presentable for his troops, Breakdown. I know I wouldn’t want to be appearing before them looking less than my best!” Megatron really was wondering what was up with the rest of his officers. Airachnid sounded more like… _Knock Out_.

“What are you up to?” Megatron glared at them, sure they were up to something.

“Awaiting your orders, master!” Both Knock Out and Starscream shouted, bowing before him. Most of the Vehicons were trying very hard not to laugh. One of them thankfully saved his lord from having to answer by opening a ground bridge. Megatron decided he could try and work out what his officers were playing at later, after he had the relic in his possession. He headed through the ground bridge, leaving his officers to realise that he’d gone and follow. _And they’d better follow promptly…_ He thought, a few different wicked punishments coming to mind.

:: We’d better follow our lord, before he decides we are purposefully ignoring him…::

:: You don’t need to act ‘in character’ over the coms, Knock Out.:: Airachnid sniggered, not noticing the Vehicons all walking through the ground bridge.

:: I’m not acting in character; I’m being worried about what Megatron might do to my finish!:: Knock Out told her, making the others laugh when they heard his reason. Dreadwing was the first one of them to glance around and notice that they were the only six Decepticons stood in the ground bridge room.

“Scrap. We’d better get through the ground bridge before our lord decides to have all our heads!” Starscream told the rest, running towards the ground bridge portal. The others followed, not wanting to be on the receiving end of their lord’s wrath either! They quickly realised they were needed, all of the Vehicons either were or were playing offline and Megatron was having to fight all of the Autobots on his own to try and stop them from getting the capsule.

“About time!” Megatron growled at them, just managing to dodge a shot.

:: Usual opponents?:: Breakdown asked.

:: Or the opponents of the one we’re pretending to be? :: Knock Out smirked; it meant he could possibly take on Arcee, since Dreadwing and Skyquake sometimes battled her and Cliffjumper.

:: Usual opponents; we don’t want Megatron to realise something is up. :: Starscream shuddered, before running towards Ratchet. Why Optimus had decided to bring Ratchet along this time was anyone’s guess. The others shrugged, before running after their usual opponents. It didn’t take long for Bulkhead to spot his rival, and run towards him. _Bulkhead is probably going to run away when who_ I’m _pretending to be ends up saying something that brings his mind to our past encounters._ Breakdown also recalled something that Airachnid had said the solar cycle both of them returned to Nemesis stuck together. Something about him being Arcee’s new partner?

“Ah, if it isn’t Arcee’s latest partner.” Breakdown’s way of speaking confused Bulkhead a little.

“Did you get hit over the head Breakdown?” Breakdown was trying very hard not to smirk at the reply.

“Not recently. You and I haven’t fought recently.”

“Allow me to change that.” Bulkhead told him, before turning his hand into one of his wrecking balls and swinging it at Breakdown.

“Why would you want to fight me? After all, haven’t I been acting differently recently?” Breakdown still had that unusual way of speaking. He almost started laughing when Bulkhead froze.

“You had to have been playing some sort of trick! No way would you feel like that for me!” Bulkhead had unwillingly just walked right into the perfect set up. _Airachnid definitely flirts with her opponents; he walked right into that one!_

“Of course I would… I do quite like it when your _big, powerful_ body is grappling with mine…” Bulkhead looked somewhere between shocked and disgusted. Breakdown was trying very hard not to laugh.

“You mean that fighting me… it…” Bulkhead didn’t want to say it; it would make what he was thinking a possibility and the thought was… completely wrong in his head. Unfortunately, Breakdown had realised what he was trying to say. _It definitely doesn’t, but…_

“Turns me on?” Breakdown then paused and shivered, as though recalling events that were doing just that.

“Of course it does… I think I like it best when you’re using your weight to pin me down…” Breakdown shivered again, trying not to laugh when he caught the disgusted look on Bulkhead’s face.

“You mean… you’ve been enjoying this the whole time?” Bulkhead shivered now, in revulsion. _You don’t know when to stop digging yourself into a hole do you?_ Breakdown thought before answering.

“Oh… _yes_ … So, come and wrestle with me Bulky…” Breakdown bit down on his tongue when Bulkhead screamed and ran off, clearly disturbed by what had just been shared. _If I started laughing right now, it would be really inappropriate._ Breakdown thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Arcee had spotted her rival as well.

“Not like you to hide from me for this long Airachnid!” She shouted, knowing that her rival would hear and possibly come out of wherever she’d hidden. Airachnid did come out of where she was hiding, but Arcee pondered what was with her. She was acting… strange. Arcee shrugged; deciding that whatever was with her rival wouldn’t affect her will to fight. Arcee drew both of her arm blades and ran at Airachnid. She attempted to attack, but all of her attacks were blocked by Airachnid’s spider legs. Arcee realised what was with her when she saw the look in Airachnid’s optics afterwards.

“Watch the paint!” Airachnid shouted, now growling at Arcee. Arcee couldn’t help thinking that she’d heard someone else say that before. Airachnid began to swing her additional limbs more aggressively now. Arcee dodged all of them, before striking Airachnid from behind. Airachnid had decided to stay down after that hit; she’d had enough pretending to dislike all the scratches as much as Knock Out would have done. _How did I beat her so quickly? Airachnid never falls that easily!_ Arcee then glanced down at her rival. Airachnid wasn’t even twitching. _Must have caught a reset switch or something…_ She thought before trying to find her partner. She spotted him, being bared down upon by Dreadwing and Skyquake. She quickly ran over to assist, glaring at both twins.

“Stop staring at me!” Skyquake shivered and turned away. _What is with these Cons today?_ Arcee pondered. One acting strange was a coincidence. Two was a pattern, and she had feeling this might have happened before. While she was pondering this, she got knocked down by a punch from…

“What’s the matter Arcee? Incapable of defending yourself from superior attacks?” That sounded like Dreadwing’s voice, but what he was saying sounded like Starscream.

“No, but sneak attacks aren’t your style Dreadwing.” She told him, getting back up to her feet.

“Oh, but they are now. They are rather efficient for downing Autobots that aren’t paying attention.” He smirked, before swinging a fist at her again. She dodged, and swung back with her wrist blades. Dreadwing quickly dodged and then swapped places with his twin. Skyquake swung his fists at her. One connected, and Arcee fell down.

“I really hate to do this, but you shouldn’t have been staring at me like that!” Skyquake told her before lifting his other fist and swinging for her. Arcee quickly squirmed out of the way.

“If I was in that position, brother; she would be unable to fight back right now.” Dreadwing commented while attempting to knock down Cliffjumper.

“You’d be wise to shut up, brother. I’m stronger than you are!” Skyquake shouted back, purposefully not looking.

:: What is with these two? :: Cliffjumper queried.

:: Primus knows. Maybe the same thing as what happened last time? :: Arcee responded. Both she and Cliffjumper were surprised when both Skyquake and Dreadwing started to back off.

“Grr… Curse you Autobots! We will get you next time!” Dreadwing growled at them before running off. Skyquake followed, still shivering.

“I think I know why those two fled.” Cliffjumper told her. She then smiled at him. She’d just received the same com as he had.

Meanwhile, Ratchet had been trying to fend off blows from Starscream. Ratchet reckoned he probably should have been attacked from behind or something equally devious by now; but so far Starscream hadn’t done anything like that. It had him wondering what was with him.

“What is with you?” Ratchet’s curiosity finally got the better of him.

“What do you mean? I am serving my lord and master by acting as an opponent for you.” Starscream answered. Ratchet’s curiosity was definitely roused now.

“Lord and master? You never serve Megatron! You attempt to overthrow him!” Ratchet snorted.

“I always serve my lord and master to the best of my ability. Why would I want Decepticon leadership? Megatron is my one true master.” Ratchet couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Starscream was known to tell everyone who would listen how much of a better leader he would be than Megatron.

“What are you going on about? Did somebody finally give in to the urge to reprogram you, or is this the result of your latest beating from Megatron?” Ratchet smirked; unable to believe that Starscream would be like this of his own free will.

“Why would I need reprograming? I am a loyal soldier to the Decepticon cause. Megatron would not have cause to beat me for anything I had done. I only do what Megatron asks of me.” Ratchet couldn’t help a bark of laughter when Starscream said he was a loyal soldier.

“You? Loyal? It clearly means something different to you than does to me!”

“It means I obey lord Megatron’s command, regardless of my own feelings towards it.” Starscream had heard about Ratchet using Synth-En on himself. He’d been somewhat impressed; not even he had the nerve to punch Megatron in the face!

“Does obeying his commands mean you attempt to prove yourself better than him?” Ratchet didn’t rise to the bait.

“It means I do what he tells me.” Starscream then stiffened hearing a familiar com.

“And right now, that is to return to base.” Ratchet hadn’t yet received a com from Optimus, but he expected one since Starscream had ran off.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee was silently pondering why Knock Out wasn’t using that lance of his. He was attempting to grapple with him instead. He decided to ask his opponent.

“Why am I not using my lance? Because it is much more honourable to fight my opponent using the same weapons as he is.” Knock Out answered. Bumblebee whirred in confusion.

“What do you mean, ‘I’m not acting like myself.’?” Knock Out looked confusedly back. He then looked affronted at what Bumblebee said next.

“ ‘I usually try dirty tricks.’ But that is dishonourable! I would never do anything like that!” Bumblebee’s optics widened; unable to believe what he was hearing. He nearly ended up tripping over and being pinned down because of that comment. He then told Knock Out exactly what he thought about said comment.

“I wouldn’t; it would be dishonourable!” Bumblebee now pondered what exactly his rival was playing at; he _always_ used tricks to win his battles. He ended up falling over when Knock Out let go of his hands. He was expecting to be attacked, and that all of Knock Out’s preaching was a ruse. What he didn’t expect was Knock Out to back off. He made a noise of confusion.

“What we were fighting over is lost, and as such; there is no need for us to continue fighting.” Knock Out told Bumblebee before running off; presumably back to the ground bridge coordinates. Bumblebee then heard his com-link.

:: I have obtained the relic Autobots, return to base. :: Optimus told him and the other Autobots over the coms. Bumblebee chirped happily, before running back towards the ground bridge coordinates he’d used. The Decepticons were going to have to explain themselves to their leader; and Bumblebee was happy he didn’t have to deal with any of that.

XxX

Meanwhile, all of the Decepticons had met back up at their ground bridge and headed back to the Nemesis. Megatron looked… very annoyed.

“If all of you had come through the ground bridge promptly like you were supposed to, we might have actually secured the relic!” Megatron growled. All of the Vehicons who were in the ground bridge room shivered. The six subjects of his ire all reacted differently. In the cases of Starscream and Knock Out, this meant they knelt down and spoke to Megatron.

“I will offer no excuses master. I should have reacted sooner, and for this I apologise.” Starscream told Megatron. Megatron looked confused; why would Starscream and Knock Out both be saying things like that?

“If I were leader, my troops would have went through the portal first, and I would have followed. Then I could be sure that they had gone on the mission.”

“Nobody asked you, Dreadwing! And you would be wise to keep such opinions to yourself!” Megatron didn’t hit him; which made Starscream inwardly seethe with anger. _If I had said something like that, I would have been hit for it! Why doesn’t Megatron hit Dreadwing?_ He pondered, silently hoping that Dreadwing said something else.

“Did you see what that femme did to me?” Airachnid pointed at a few scratches on her body. Megatron growled at her.

“You shouldn’t be worried about that! You should be more worried about what our master is going to do to us!” Knock Out shouted at her. The Vehicons were trying very hard not to laugh; he was the exact mech who would be having a temper tantrum if he had a few scratches.

“All of you are dismissed. And I had better not see any of you until tomorrow morning or I _will_ punish you for this failure!” All of the Vehicons thought that Megatron had let them off remarkably lightly. Megatron stormed off, leaving the other six of his hierarchy to breathe sighs of relief.

“I thought he was going to make this worse!” Airachnid shivered; as though the thought of more scratches was a nightmare.

“Shall we go to our quarters?” Starscream asked out loud, but over the coms he said.

:: Let’s head to the med-bay, since it is nearly the end of the solar cycle; the time must be up. :: All five of the others agreed with him and headed off out of the door. A short while later, all of them were in the med-bay; discussing what had happened with the Autobots.

“Fighting Arcee was horrible; I had to react outraged every time she caught me with one of her wrist blades.”

“I don’t react like that every time I get scratched… do I?” Knock Out looked worried at what Airachnid had suggested.

“Yeah you do. I’ve had to deal with you in one of your moods on more than one occasion.” Breakdown told him.

“So I decided to pretend she’d knocked me out.”

“That would explain why she came to fight the both of us.” Dreadwing turned to his twin.

“She really needs to learn to not glare at her foes. It was unnerving being stared at like that.” Skyquake received a confused look from Breakdown.

“Where did you get the idea from? I don’t act that bothered about people staring at me.”

“I have seen you stiffen a few times when there are lot of people looking at you.” Knock Out told Breakdown.

“Skyquake must have seen me do that too. But he over-played it a little.” Breakdown shrugged.

“Why did Megatron not hit you? If I’d come out with half of the things you did this solar cycle; Megatron would have beat me up!”

“Did you not see he was going to, on the bridge? Or were you too busy with monitor duty to notice?” Dreadwing glared at Starscream.

“I did see that; but Megatron would have shot me.” That made all of them pause to think for a moment.

“Maybe, he thought that I had some sort of glitch and didn’t want to hit me and make it worse.” The others decided to take Dreadwing’s suggestion; they didn’t want to think about what _else_ it might mean.

“It was… interesting having a discussion with Ratchet about loyalties. And obeying commands.” Starscream sniggered.

“Are you referring to the reason we have an unusual green fluid sample in storage?” Knock Out smirked; Ratchet had ran off on his own into a mine. Knock Out remembered rather well what happened in that mine; Starscream wished he’d been there to see it!

“Yes. Unfortunately he didn’t react to my mentioning of it.” Starscream shrugged.

“My rival seemed convinced I was up to something; he also… _accused_ me of always resorting to dirty tricks.” Knock Out smirked; Bumblebee was exactly right.

“You behaving as I would must have surprised him.”

“Oh, definitely. He looked terrified when I let him go to answer Megatron’s com; he must have thought I was going to try something!” Dreadwing looked confused; he didn’t grapple with opponents that often; but he supposed Bumblebee didn’t really have any other weapons.

“I wish all of you could have seen the look on Bulkhead’s face!” Breakdown laughed.

“We did hear a high pitched noise coming from the direction you ran off in. Was that…?” Airachnid hoped so.

“It was. I did the flirting with the enemy thing you do.” Breakdown tried not to laugh at the annoyed look on Airachnid’s face.

“I don’t flirt with the Autobots!”

“You do. You might not do so with your rival, but do with the mechs!” Starscream told her.

“I also flirt with all of you though…” She smirked at them, taking particular notice to the possessive glint in Starscream’s optics.

“Well, since it seems we _still_ haven’t been caught by our lord…” Knock Out looked hopefully at the other five.

“Shall we meet up in here tomorrow morning for another round?” Starscream asked, receiving nods and yeses from the others.

XxX

Megatron had suspicions about the way his hierarchy was acting. He had noticed them acting strangely; and one of the Vehicons on the bridge earlier had said something about them starting up the dare club again. He knew there was only one way to be sure if they had.

“Soundwave, show me the footage from outside the med-bay.” Megatron asked, surprisingly calm considering that the previous mission had ended in failure. Soundwave nodded, before bringing up the requested footage. It remained still for a couple of kliks, but then both he and his lord saw the other six members of the hierarchy go through the door. Megatron didn’t think they looked that injured after that battle.

“The footage seems to suggest they are up to something.” Megatron looked like he was contemplating something; Soundwave didn’t want to guess what. Megatron then grinned.

“I shall have to see if they all convene in the med-bay again tomorrow morning.” Megatron stood up and headed towards the door.

“Meet me here tomorrow morning Soundwave. I must find out if they have restarted the dare club; and if they have, there will be dire consequences!” Megatron said over his shoulder, before heading off to his quarters. Soundwave didn’t answer, and went back to attempting to decode the Iacon database. He thought he might be able to get somewhere with it before he had to go recharge.

The next morning, as asked, Soundwave had gone back to the bridge. It didn’t surprise him that Megatron was not there yet. Soundwave got back on with his work on the Iacon database; he still had a lot to do. About cycle later, earlier than normal Soundwave noted, Megatron came through the doors.

“I have sent the wakeup call, so I expect that everyone will be up shortly. I would like to see the footage from outside the med-bay again Soundwave.” Megatron stood beside him, a pleased look crossing his features when he saw that Soundwave was working on the Iacon database at this time in the morning. Soundwave nodded, bringing up the footage from outside the med-bay again. It was still for a few kliks, but Megatron did see Breakdown head inside. Over the space of the next couple of breems, he also saw Airachnid, Starscream and the twins head inside the med-bay. Megatron grinned; he knew what he was going to do now.

“Soundwave, come with me. We are going to go and remind the rest of my hierarchy about my rules.” Megatron walked towards the door and few nanokliks later Soundwave followed him. Megatron had one destination in mind; the med-bay to speak to his errant underlings. A couple of kliks later, both he and Soundwave were stood outside the door. He could hear Knock Out speaking; reinforcing the idea he had in his head. _They forget that I am fully capable of overriding any lock they have put on this door._ Megatron smirked. He checked the door and was surprised to discover it wasn’t locked. _You mean that anyone could have walked in on them?_ He decided to give all of them a fright.

“I dare you to…”

“Do nothing!” Megatron shouted at the gathered group. Knock Out instantly went silent. All of the rest of them looked petrified; they’d been caught.

“Would any of you care to explain what it is you are doing?” Megatron savoured the frightened expressions all of his underlings had on their faces. No one dared to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ll just leave that there for now. You will all rage about it, but this isn’t the end! I will resolve this issue; hopefully in a way no one could predict or see coming! Skyquake’s characterisation in this is more like G1 Breakdown than Prime, but it kind of works… Bulkhead is definitely completely freaked out from Breakdown’s actions!


	7. Bonus Round: The Lord and the Spy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Some Cybertronian time units you might need: nanoklik = 1 second, joor = 6 hours, breem = 8.3 minutes, klik = 1.2 minutes, solar cycle = 1 day.

:: Somebody had better answer him, or we are all going to get in _so_ much trouble! :: Starscream quickly told all of the others over com.

:: Shall I do it? :: Dreadwing asked. He received affirmatives from the others. Before he could speak, Megatron shouted again.

“Are you aware of my order involving the dare club?!”

“Yes, lord Megatron.” All of them chorused.

“About it being disbanded and that it was _not_ to be started up again under _any_ circumstances?!” They all could sense Megatron getting angrier, but answered as before.

“They which of you would like to explain how what you are doing does _not_ violate my order?!” They all shivered, knowing that Megatron was going to dislike the answer.

“This isn’t the dare club.” Dreadwing spoke; Megatron was more likely to listen to him or his twin.

“Then _what_ is it?” Megatron still glared at them.

“We were playing a game.” Megatron’s glare intensified.

“You mean to tell me that _all_ of you have been playing a game instead of concentrating on your duties?” Megatron sounded less annoyed, and more incredulous now. At least, Knock Out hoped he did; because he was going to end up being scratched up otherwise when he spoke.

“Allow me to explain the game to you, lord Megatron.” Knock Out paused and bowed to his leader. Megatron didn’t speak, and Knock Out hoped this meant he was interested.

“Each player chooses either truth or dare. If they choose truth they are asked a question by someone else; which they must answer with the truth.” Knock Out told his master. Megatron looked somewhat intrigued. Knock Out decided that since his lord didn’t interrupt him; he could continue.

“If they choose dare, they are told something which they must do. If they do not, or choose not to, they receive a forfeit instead; usually the greater of two evils.” Knock Out remembered some of the forfeits; they were quite nasty!

“And why, pray tell, have you decided that this is more important than your duties?” Megatron had thankfully for the rest of them, calmed down a little.

“We have still been completing our duties, master.” Skyquake told him, also bowing.

“We have just been… raising the morale of the troops at the same time.” Starscream told him, being very careful with his words.

“You have also been distracting the troops with what you have been doing!” Megatron glared at them; all of them fearing that someone had said something wrong.

“They have been still performing their duties though, master.” Breakdown told Megatron. Megatron took a few nanokliks to think. _The troops do seem to be in a better mood; I did notice that when I spoke to them yesterday. They seem to enjoy this._ Megatron clearly liked the idea.

“Some of what we have been doing has helped you obtain relics as well.” Airachnid bowed as well, knowing that her leader might mention the other relics that they lost because of their games as well.

“When? You all cost me a relic yesterday!” Megatron glared at them.

“And the time before that; we distracted all of the Autobots so you could escape with the relic.” Airachnid reminded him. Megatron thought back and, yes they did help.

“So this game of yours helps to raise morale and can improve mission success rates?” Megatron had a look that suggested he was plotting something. The rest of them decided that might be a good sign and so continued on.

“Yes.” All of them answered, silently thinking that it could also be rather fun.

“Can… anyone join in?” All six of them smiled; knowing that was Megatron’s roundabout way of saying it intrigued him and he wanted to try.

“Yes, maybe you and Soundwave could both appreciate how much fun this game is if you both tried it.” Knock Out looked hopeful; he was already coming up with some ideas about things he could ask Megatron to do for a dare!

“Just this once, I will indulge you.” The rest of them weren’t to know that Megatron was thinking, ‘ _Unless I enjoy it; then I will have to make this a recurring event'_ to himself.

“Then you can both draw one of the wires from this bucket.” Airachnid told them, silently relieved that she wasn’t going to have to do the dare Knock Out was setting her up for. It had sounded horrible, but she might have been over-thinking it. Soundwave looked confusedly at the wires, or at least they all thought he looked confused.

“All of the wires are different lengths. Whichever of you two gets the shortest wire goes first. We will decide what you will do.” Starscream smirked; he had a few particularly evil ideas in mind for Megatron. Both of them grabbed one of the wires. It was immediately obvious which one was shorter.

:: Which of us will ask him? :: Knock Out asked the others.

:: Can I? I really want to be the one to suggest something too.:: Breakdown sounded hopeful. The others didn’t have any problem with that.

“Soundwave, truth or dare?” Breakdown asked. Silence answered him for a few nanokliks, before he heard an answer.

“Truth.” Soundwave answered; using Knock Out’s voice.

:: I know what question I want him to answer with the truth! :: Skyquake was the first to speak over the coms.

:: Is it something to do with what his actual speaking voice sounds like? :: Knock Out sniggered out loud, making Soundwave a little bit curious; what were they discussing over the coms?

:: How did you…? :: Skyquake asked.

:: Because that was the exact question I was going to ask him! :: Knock Out sniggered again, this time it made both Megatron and Soundwave look worried; in Soundwave’s case act a little worried.

:: How many of you were going to ask that question, apart from me as well?! :: Breakdown couldn’t believe that; did all of them really have the same idea? Breakdown had to try very hard not to look shocked when Starscream, Airachnid and Dreadwing all answered that they wanted to know that as well. Breakdown decided this meant he had to ask that question; they _all_ wanted to know the answer!

“Soundwave, can you speak like the rest of us do; without using a voice recording?” Breakdown’s query was answered by silence. The others seemed to think this meant that; no he couldn’t.

“If you can, can you answer me?” Breakdown looked worried; had he somehow offended the other Decepticon?

“I prefer not to speak.” Starscream visibly recoiled; he didn’t know what he expected Soundwave to sound like, but this low pitched growly voice wasn’t it!

“You… can speak like the rest of us?!” Skyquake shouldn’t have been as surprised.

“I am fully capable, I just choose to be silent.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to sound like that Soundwave!” Knock Out looked visibly shocked and silently thought that if he sounded like that; he would probably be a lot quieter too.

“You got a mask covering a face up, or is that screen your face?” Airachnid asked.

“I have answered the question that was asked. I do not intend to answer another.” Soundwave didn’t raise his voice, but everyone decided it would be better not to pester him further.

“Now then, lord Megatron. Truth or dare?” Dreadwing asked.

“Which would you all choose?” Megatron looked at them with a wicked smirk on his face; he had a feeling they had some way of telling if someone was lying and it would tell him if they lied in this answer as well.

“Truth.” Dreadwing and Skyquake both answered straight away. They both remembered the horrible dares they had given each other.

“Dare.” The other four all said, making Dreadwing and Skyquake inwardly suspicious. How did they manage to lie without setting off the lie detector?

“But that sounds the worse of the two. Why would you do one?” Megatron pondered.

“To prove you are not afraid of what others may ask you to do.” Starscream answered, knowing that Megatron would definitely choose dare now.

“Dare.” Megatron instantly regretted that choice when he saw the evil grins on the faces of Starscream, Knock Out and Airachnid.

:: Before you three clearly plot how best to humiliate our lord, how didn’t you set off the lie detector? We both know that you would rather roll around in the mud than do a dare Knock Out! :: Dreadwing told him, a smirk appearing on his face.

:: Simple. I switched it off. ::

:: Then how do we know you didn’t do that at any other time? :: Skyquake hoped to catch him out.

:: Because if I was to reach into subspace to pull it out, you would have all seen me doing it. You were all looking at Soundwave when I switched it off this time; I _really_ wanted Megatron to pick dare and knew you two wouldn’t lie, so we all agreed we’d say dare and lie. :: Both twins seemed slightly impressed that he thought of that.

:: So, what exactly are we going to make Megatron do? :: Airachnid asked.

:: You know, I had lots of ideas but none of them seem… _evil_ enough. :: Starscream shrugged.

:: Uh… are any of those ideas things you’ve been made to do and hated? :: Breakdown was genuinely curious. He took Starscream not answering him to mean yes, at least one was.

:: We could ask the other mech in here who hasn’t done this before. :: Knock Out suggested. The others agreed, some of them grudgingly.

“Soundwave, have you got any suggestions?” Knock Out asked him quietly.

“Actually, yes.” Soundwave then whispered his suggestion to the rest of them.

“That is… actually nastier than my ideas!” Starscream purposefully spoke loudly so Megatron would hear. He didn’t see his master stiffen.

“I’m… intrigued by that myself.”

“You would be.” Breakdown sniggered, and so did the others, having been on the receiving end of that particular part of Airachnid’s curiosity.

“Shall I tell him?” Knock Out looked a little too eager.

“Go ahead.” Both Skyquake and Dreadwing answered. Megatron saw all of them turn to look at him and decided that meant his fate was sealed. _I only hope they don’t ask me to do anything with one of the Autobots…_ Megatron shivered just thinking about it.

“Do you know the opinions of us to some of our troops, lord Megatron?” Knock Out asked. Megatron was inwardly worried; that didn’t sound like a lead in to a particularly kind dare.

“Would you care to enlighten me?”

“Apparently, they find us quite… _attractive_.” Knock Out thought he must be seeing things. Did Megatron just _shiver_?

“I also imagine that there would even be troops who found Soundwave or yourself attractive as well.” The other five were certain they saw Soundwave stiffen when Knock Out said this.

“Shall we make those troops happy?” The other five said yes, making Megatron wonder what Knock Out was getting at.

“Get to the point, Knock Out.” He growled.

“Lord Megatron, I dare you to perform your normal duties for a joor…”

“That doesn’t sound so bad…” Megatron didn’t realise that Knock Out had paused.

“While not wearing any armour.” They were all certain they saw Megatron’s cheeks flash pale blue for the briefest of instances.

“You expect me to do this?” Megatron sounded worried as well.

“In all fairness lord Megatron, the only one of the six you see standing here that _hasn’t_ been seen in their protoform by the troops is me.” Breakdown told him, making Megatron wonder when exactly his underlings had been wandering around in their protoforms and decided he _really_ didn’t want to know.

“You mean all of you have done this?” Megatron couldn’t believe it.

“Did you expect us to be given a dare and not do it?” Starscream was goading him again. Megatron seemed to take the challenge.

“Fine. I will report to the bridge in a couple of breems to begin.” Megatron told them, before turning to head towards the door.

“Where do you think you are heading off to?” Airachnid asked, standing with her hands on her hips.

“What do you mean? I’m going to…”

“Stay in here and remove your armour.” She suggested with an evil grin. Megatron didn’t like that look; he had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to have to but…

“I’m not going to do that! It is… impolite.” He told her.

“I’m the one who is wanting you to!” Airachnid gave him a look that said ‘get on with it!’

“All of you turn your backs and I will.” Soundwave did as asked almost instantly. The other six had heard this kind of response at least once and so complied. About half a breem later, Airachnid decided to chance turning around. She saw that Megatron wasn’t wearing any armour, didn’t pay that much attention to the fact.

“You can all turn around now.” She told the others. They all did so and unlike her, they did pay attention. Skyquake shivered and Airachnid was certain she saw his optics flicker. _He must like what he sees…_ Airachnid then paid more attention and her optics flickered as well. _I don’t think our lord has realised yet quite why some of the troops might find him attractive._ _Damn… I envy the femme or mech who gets him…_

“Should I report to the bridge?” Megatron asked, the others thought he looked a little nervous for some reason.

“Unless you’d like to stand around in here for a bit longer. Can’t say that I don’t appreciate the view I’m getting.” Airachnid smirked, hoping that Megatron wouldn’t get annoyed by her attempts at flattery this time. She could have sworn she saw his cheeks flush pale blue. _Apparently, our lord has never been told he’s attractive._ She thought; trying very hard not to smirk.

“No, I shall head to the bridge. You had all better report there promptly, or else.” Megatron growled; still not liking the attention. He turned and headed off out of the door.

:: How many of your underlings think lord Megatron is attractive? :: Airachnid commed the highest ranked female Vehicon.

:: I’m not sure; they tend to not say so. :: Airachnid smirked at the comment she received.

:: Tell your underlings that do to make sure they go to work on the bridge today. :: Airachnid told her. The highest ranked female Vehicon answered confusedly.

:: Why? Do you know something I don’t? ::

:: I just have a suspicion they’ll thank you. :: Airachnid then closed the com; leaving the Vehicon to ponder what she’d meant.

“I’d better get on with decoding the Iacon database; then we might have to fight the Autobots for a relic…” Soundwave told them all. They were all certain he sounded smug. He walked off out of the door, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

“Watch out for the quiet ones…” Knock Out shuddered.

“They’re the most evil!” Breakdown didn’t realise how right his comment was; Dreadwing wasn’t known for saying much either.

XxX

Megatron was certain that everyone was staring at him. This normally wouldn’t be a problem; he was the lord of the Decepticons, his troops should look at him with respect, fear or a mixture of both. He didn’t like the fact they all seemed to be staring at him not with fear or respect but something else entirely. He could also hear them whispering. He didn’t like it. It was making him nervous. _With the way they are looking at me; you’d think they’d never seen a mech without any armour on before._ Megatron was trying not to let the staring get to him and so continued along the corridor. As soon as he’d walked out of audio range, the Vehicons began to discuss what they’d just seen out loud.

“I’ve got to be dreaming, right? I’m going to be woken up by an alarm in a few nanokliks aren’t I?” One of the Vehicons asked the others, hopefully. There was no way he’d just seen his lord without armour. No way.

“In that case, we must all be having the same dream.” This one was female; but she wasn’t interested in Megatron. Not in that way at least.

“Didn’t Megatron outlaw the dare club?” A third, this one male, asked the others.

“I was sure he did as well.” The first one to speak told the other two.

“Then how did he end up being given a dare?” The second one asked, silencing them all. None of them could figure it out. A different group of Vehicons were… a little bit happier about the current turn of events.

“I don’t know what made Megatron decide to do that but…” The first sounded like she wanted to jump up and down.

“Damn… I want that!” A second one finished off the first’s sentence.

“He’d never want a Vehicon like us…” This one sounded disappointed with what he considered a fact.

“Did you hear about what commander Skyquake did?” The first to speak asked the other two.

“You mean wander the halls in his protoform with ‘touch me’ written on him?” The second one asked; she had an idea what her friend was hoping for now and so was she!

“You don’t think that our lord will be doing the same, do you?” The third one hoped so; he definitely wanted to touch his lord. All three of them clearly hoped so, as they scurried off in the direction their lord was heading. They hadn’t found him by the time they reached the door to the bridge, but figured this is where he would be.

“Who’s going to ask him the question?” The first one asked the others.

“I will.” The male one told them. He only hoped that he could ask the question without making an embarrassing noise. All three of them then strolled through the doors to the bridge. They weren’t surprised to see Megatron sitting in his throne. They were surprised by the fact he wasn’t sitting to hide his… they decided not to dwell on that for too long.

“Lord Megatron, is there any way we can assist you?” The male Vehicon of this trio asked his master. Megatron would have normally complained that his underlings should only speak when spoken to; but he had a rather cruel idea in mind. _These three seem to have an… interest in me. Maybe these rumours my underlings have been overhearing are founded in some truth after all. In that case; I’d better…_ indulge _their curiosity._ Megatron sat up straight and pretended to ponder what he would like them to do for a klik. He then answered them, sounding somewhat… different. The Vehicons couldn’t place what had changed in his voice.

“Actually, there is.” Megatron paused. The Vehicons didn’t know whether or not he wanted them to ask him what it was, but he thankfully spoke before one of them could.

“I would like you to locate my lieutenants and tell them to report to the bridge. Only Soundwave has turned up and found out what his duties are for the day. If you can bring them here within the next two breems…” The Vehicons couldn’t believe the way he spoke next; it sounded… _flirtatious_.

“I might just have to reward you.” Megatron had to try not to laugh at the way the Vehicons spun and bolted for the door. _Maybe there is a grain of truth in those rumours._ He thought, purposefully not setting an internal timer. He was going to reward them regardless; if just to see the looks on his lieutenants’ faces when he did so. The Vehicons got some strange looks as they ran through the corridors. The rest of their kind figured Megatron had shouted at them and they were fleeing his wrath. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

“If the commanders have started up the dare club again…” One of the female Vehicons stated; hoping the others caught on.

“They might be meeting in the place one of the others said he heard Starscream shout out his feelings for commander Airachnid.” The other femme told the others.

“The med-bay.” The male Vehicon realised, and moved a bit faster. It didn’t take too long for all three of them to reach the med-bay doors. The male Vehicon knocked on the doors. They heard an ‘enter’ from Knock Out and so the three of them went through the doors. They were relieved to see that all six of the commanders who apparently hadn’t reported to the bridge yet were in here.

“Lord Megatron requires your presence on the bridge commanders.” One of the female Vehicons told the six commanders.

“Maybe we should see what he wants.” Starscream had to try very hard to pretend he didn’t know that his lord wasn’t wearing any armour. The other commanders didn’t say anything, but they all followed Starscream out of the door. The three Vehicons inwardly cheered; that took no convincing at all, and they could be back to the bridge within a breem and a half! They followed their commanders along the corridor, hoping that they weren’t mistaken; and that they _had_ taken less than two breems. They wanted their lord to reward them! They saw all of their commanders go through the door and quietly followed them.

“What was it you required, lord Megatron?” Dreadwing asked. Megatron glared at them.

“You have not yet reported in for your duties this solar cycle!” Megatron then gestured to the board in the corner.

“You should all have been in here already and found out your duties!” Megatron stood up as he shouted at them. All of the other commanders looked shocked when they saw what the Vehicons did earlier; their lord wasn’t wearing any armour. Said Vehicons however, weren’t to know that the other commanders were the reason behind this.

“As you command, master!” The Vehicons thought they saw commander Skyquake shiver. They didn’t think it was with revulsion though, could that rumour be true? One of the other Vehicons said he’d heard commander Skyquake say he had the hots for Megatron. The three Vehicons realised that their commanders had moved off over to the notice board and that their lord was now looking at them.

“Uh… we have brought you your lieutenants, as you ordered lord Megatron.” The male Vehicon told his lord, trying very hard to keep his optics on his lord’s face.

“So you did… And within the time frame I gave you… Very impressive…” The Vehicons shivered with their lord’s next line. His voice was doing that thing again…

“Now, how should I reward you…?” The Vehicons hoped in a similar way to the way that commander Skyquake was acting a few solar cycles ago. By… _letting them touch him._

“Reward us?” One of the female Vehicons sounded nervous.

“Yes, you did do as I asked; I believe you are deserving of one.” Megatron saw the strange looks he was being given by the six of his commanders who were present; he didn’t normally reward his troops, but that was why he was doing it. He wanted to see the looks on their faces!

“We didn’t actually expect you to…” The other female Vehicon started to say, but was interrupted.

“Follow through with it? I am a mech of my word.” Megatron paused, before answering with… _a seductive tone_.

“And I have figured out _exactly_ how I’m going to reward you…” The other Vehicons on monitor duty began paying attention; they had noticed that three other Vehicons were about to be… _rewarded_ by their master. They hadn’t noticed yet what said other three had; their lord wasn’t wearing any armour.

“So come here you three.” Megatron gestured for the three of them to come closer. All three of them nervously walked closer to him; not wanting to annoy him. When all three of them were stood just out of arms reach, Megatron spoke again, more quietly; he didn’t want everyone in the room to hear!

“Do you… find me attractive?” The three Vehicons thought their lord sounded… _unsure_. They also knew that he would probably turn on them if they said no; but it would be difficult to tell him their feelings!

“We… don’t just follow your commands because you’re an amazing leader…” One of the female Vehicons told him, very quietly.

“We…” The other female knew what she wanted to say; but was too nervous to actually come out and say it.

“We also think you’re… the most attractive of the commanders, lord Megatron.” The male Vehicon just about managed to say all of what he did without clamming up. The three of them could have sworn they saw their lord’s cheeks turn slightly pale blue a nanoklik later. Megatron shook himself and then spoke again; hoping that the six of his commanders who had been playing truth or dare were looking when he did it.

“In that case would you like me to… hold you in my arms?” The three Vehicons couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Of course they did!

“If that is how you would like to reward us…” The male one bowed, before moving closer to his master. Megatron glanced over to where his six commanders were and saw that, yes, they were all looking. He slid his arms around the Vehicon and prayed silently that no one asked what he was doing. Said Vehicon thought to himself how lucky he was, not only was he getting a hug from the mech he had the hots for; said mech was also… The male Vehicon decided he better not think about that while he was being held by said mech. He also would never admit to being slightly disappointed when his lord let go of him and ushered one of the female Vehicons forward. The one that did walk forward shivered slightly; she was worried about whether she could control herself.

“Come on, I don’t bite…” The Vehicon was certain she imagined what she heard next; because only in her fantasies did her lord say ‘unless you want me to’ after that. She stiffened, but managed to walk forward. She quickly found herself being, well if it was anyone else she would have said cuddled but Megatron _didn’t do_ cuddles, _held by_ her lord. She made sure to stay completely still, not trusting her hands not to wander. Before she’d realised what was happening he’d let her go and, apparently, expected her to join her male friend. She quickly walked off, not wanting to show herself up.

Her friend moved forward a lot more quickly than she did. Megatron didn’t seem to mind all that much. He slid his arms around her too. The female Vehicon could have sworn she felt him stiffen just a tiny bit when she slid her arms around him. _He can’t be nervous of physical contact…_ She pondered, absentmindedly running her hands across his back. She definitely felt him stiffen this time. Megatron let go of her and she let her arms fall by her side nervously; believing she had overstepped her authority. When Megatron didn’t say anything she went over to join her friends.

“Right, now that you three have been rewarded, you may go back to your duties.” Megatron told them, before going to sit back in his throne. The three Vehicons headed out of the door and only then did Megatron allow the smirk he’d been trying not to show to appear. All six of his commanders were standing with their mouths open in shock at what they’d just witnessed.

:: I wish you all could see the looks on your faces. :: Megatron commed them. All of them then shook themselves and closed their mouths. Megatron chuckled at them, pondering if it was really that surprising. They’d all been doing similar things; based on what the Vehicons on the bridge had been saying.

:: I dare you to ask him to reward you like that! :: Starscream commed Skyquake.

:: No way! This is not the time to be bringing this up any way! :: Skyquake purposefully ignored his com now; he knew the others were going to tease him about that.

“Surely you six have better things to be doing than standing around in here?” Megatron growled at them.

“If we do a task for you; will you _reward_ us like that, lord Megatron?” Knock Out asked glancing to see how Skyquake reacted. The slight blush on his cheeks told him all he needed to know about Skyquake’s opinion. Megatron had only one answer in mind, a definite no, but then thought about it. He’d seen Skyquake blush as well.

“Possibly…” Megatron answered; his voice doing that thing again. He saw Skyquake shiver and then pondered something. _Skyquake appears to share same interest in me the Vehicons do. Should I give him an assignment?_ Before Megatron could ask the opinions of the other truth or dare players, Soundwave walked through the doors. He walked straight up to Megatron, completely ignoring the other commanders still stood around.

“I have decoded another one of the Iacon entries, master.” Soundwave told Megatron quietly, the others couldn’t help noticing that it didn’t sound like a recording.

“Then we shall go out to retrieve it.” Megatron paused, before addressing the room’s occupants.

“Attention Decepticons! Soundwave has decoded another of the Iacon database entries. Anyone who wishes to join me on this mission should report to the ground bridge room with the next breem.” Megatron’s response was met with some incredulous looks from the Vehicons.

“He does realise he isn’t wearing any armour doesn’t he?” One of them whispered.

“If he doesn’t, I’m not telling him!” Another answered.

“The Autobots might not be able to do much!” A third Vehicon said. A ‘why?’ answered his comment.

“Because they’ll be stunned by the fact Megatron isn’t wearing any armour!” The other Vehicons sniggered along with him at that.

“I don’t suppose we are staying behind?” Starscream asked, apparently having seen quite enough of his master with no armour on for this solar cycle.

“No way.” Skyquake answered almost straight afterwards.

“I want to see the look on Arcee’s face when she sees Megatron’s spike.” Airachnid smirked.

“I want to know if Optimus will fight with Megatron the same way he normally does…” Knock Out sniggered.

“You mean by grappling and… oh!” Breakdown started laughing when he realised the problem with this.

“I hope our lord remembers that he isn’t wearing any armour before we go through the portal.” Dreadwing didn’t particularly want his lord to make a fool of himself, but decided that there wasn’t much he could do.

“If he doesn’t, I’m not telling him!” Starscream told them, before joining in with the laughter of the others.

XxX

About a breem later, ground bridge room…

All of the Vehicons who found Megatron attractive decided they _had_ to go on this mission; they’d get to see their lord without any armour on, if what the others had been saying was true. The heard the door slide and looked to it hopefully. They were a little disappointed to discover that it wasn’t their lord, it was his underlings and all of them appeared to be wearing their armour. The Vehicons weren’t sure why all of them would want or need to go on this particular mission.

“Maybe they know something about this relic that we don’t…” One of them suggested.

“Maybe we should ask them?” Another suggested, before speaking to one of the commanders.

“Commander Breakdown, is there something special about this relic that means all of you have decided to go on the mission for it?” It surprised the Vehicon when it was not Breakdown who answered.

“Not quite…” Starscream spoke first, before sniggering.

“We all have our own reasons.” Airachnid told them, before she started laughing about something. Most of the Vehicons were wondering what the joke was. Only one of them was brave enough to ask, however.

“Is this to do with rumours we’ve heard concerning our lord?” She silently hoped so.

“What rumours would these be? The ones concerning our lord not wearing any armour?” Knock Out asked them, silently hoping it wasn’t.

“Are they true then? Is lord Megatron actually wandering the halls in his protoform?” The same Vehicon asked, apparently Knock Out had hit the nail right on the head.

“You’ll find out shortly; lord Megatron will be joining us any nanoklik.” Dreadwing told them, leaving the Vehicons to speculate about it. The underlings decided that their lord must have been summoned by someone mentioning his name; as he came through the door a few nanokliks later.

_That is… quite a turn out._ Megatron thought to himself, glancing around at all of the Vehicons stood in the room. He was certain he heard a Vehicon say ‘Oh my Primus, he is!’ but decided against calling him out on it.

“Soundwave has given you the coordinates, hasn’t he?” He asked the Vehicon at the controls. She was trying very hard not to faint; she idolised her lord and he was not only speaking to her; he also wasn’t wearing any armour.

“Yes, I’m just inputting them now.” She answered him, purposefully not looking at him. She knew if she did she would be stumbling over her words. Just after she spoke a ground bridge opened up.

“Everyone, through the portal!” Megatron shouted, pointing towards it with his right arm. A few of the Vehicons who had turned to look at him mimed fainting; they wouldn’t dare actually faint, they knew that would get them the wrong kind of attention. A few of the others flickered their optics, making sure to take a picture of what they witnessing for those who were miming fainting, and in some cases for themselves as well. It only took them a few nanokliks to recover and head through the portal. Megatron then turned to his commanders.

“All of you had better follow them… except you, Skyquake. I need to speak with you… _privately_.” Megatron smirked and the other commanders sniggered. Skyquake looked rather flustered. All of them walked towards the portal, Starscream elbowing Skyquake and whispering ‘have fun!’ to him.

Only once Skyquake and his lord were the only two mechs in the room, did Megatron speak to him.

“Do you… find me attractive?” Skyquake shivered; he knew couldn’t confess this, ever! Megatron didn’t seem surprised that he wasn’t answered.

“If you retrieve the relic… would you like me to _reward_ you in the same way that I reward the Vehicons?” Megatron paused, hoping that he could convince Skyquake to actually answer him. He took Skyquake’s cheeks turning pale blue to mean that, yes he would. Megatron gestured to the portal, and Skyquake quickly ran through it. Megatron shook his head and walked through after his commanders. It surprised him that the Autobots weren’t there yet. The Decepticons had located the capsule and were just going to carry it over to him when another ground bridge portal opened. The Autobots quickly ran out and started shooting at the Vehicons. All of them fell to the ground, either playing or actually offline.

“You won’t get away with the relic this time Megatron!” Optimus shouted at him. Optimus didn’t noticed the surprised looks on his team mates faces. Airachnid was trying very hard not to laugh at the look on Arcee’s face; it looked like a bizarre mix of shock and _admiration_.

“Do you think we should tell Optimus about…?” Bulkhead whispered, hoping that Optimus didn’t hear him.

“No, he’ll realise.” Cliffjumper said nonchalantly.

“I will get away with the relic Prime! There’s nothing you can do to stop me!” Megatron pointed at his rival. He couldn’t help noticing that the Autobot femme seemed to be paying more attention to him. _Maybe she likes what she sees?_ He didn’t dwell on it for too long. Optimus began to run towards his rival, and Megatron prepared for the usual fight. _This could be…_ interesting _, considering Prime doesn’t appear to have noticed that I’m not wearing any armour._ Megatron didn’t dwell on that for too long either; it would only distract him. Optimus drew his swords, seeming confused as to why Megatron had not drawn his yet.

“I am unarmed Prime. If you want to fight me fairly, you will have fight as I am.” Megatron held both of his arms out to the sides, hoping that Prime would realise that his rival wasn’t wearing any armour; before he started grappling with him. The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons attempted to match up as well. Bulkhead went after the twins, which Breakdown couldn’t help sniggering at. Airachnid ended up against Arcee, with Starscream against Cliffjumper. Breakdown decided he could keep a watch on all of the battles that were going on, his partner could handle that yellow Autobot he usually fought on his own. He saw that, yes, Optimus was battling with Megatron in his usual fashion. _I really hope that Optimus realises soon that Megatron is in his protoform; or it will become very awkward for him._ Breakdown thought, purposefully running to hide behind one of the trees in the area. He didn’t want to be shot at while standing watching. He seemed surprised that Bulkhead was holding his own against both Skyquake and Dreadwing. _I’m not sure he’d be able to fight me now; not after the last two times!_ Breakdown sniggered, remembering the disgusted look on his rival’s face all too well.

He also had spotted that both Airachnid and Arcee had kept jumping to assist their partners and swapping targets. _Maybe the Autobot femme and that red Autobot are partners in the same way Airachnid and Starscream are…_ He pondered for a few nanokliks before turning to see how his partner was faring. He couldn’t help noticing how _aggressive_ Knock Out was being. He then saw why and smirked. _That yellow Autobot shouldn’t have scratched Knocks’ paint job then he wouldn’t have to fight like a mad-mech just to dodge blows!_ Breakdown sniggered, before looking for the capsule. He saw that no one was trying to get the relic capsule and so snuck over and grabbed it. He then went back to hide behind the tree. He then turned his attention back to his leader.

“You won’t get this relic, Prime!” Megatron growled, being very careful not to take a blow to that region. He was the one currently being pinned on the ground with Optimus leaning over him. He was trying not to wriggle too hard, less one of his immature underlings get the wrong idea. He glanced around, but couldn’t notice the capsule anywhere. He also couldn’t see where Breakdown had got to and concluded that maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that both were missing. _I wonder if any of my underlings have done this sort of thing?_ Megatron pondered before speaking to his rival.

“You know… if you wanted me that badly you only had to ask Prime!” Optimus went still at Megatron’s words.

“What… what do you mean?” _Optimus really is clueless!_ It hadn’t escaped Megatron’s notice that Prime was now using his body weight to hold down his hips. It also hadn’t escaped Breakdown’s as he was contacting his comrades about it as well. The Autobots that were fighting seemed confused when their opponents stopped, until said opponents pointed at their leaders. Unbeknownst to Megatron and Optimus, all of their underlings had their optics on them.

“You’re the one holding me down like this…” Megatron shivered slightly for effect; as though such a thing was appealing to him. The other Decepticons were trying very hard not to laugh; they’d done something like this as well. Optimus still looked confused.

“It is preventing you from squirming, so that my comrades can get the relic.” Said comrades looked a little worried; they hadn’t got the relic at all, but they also found humour in the situation; how could Optimus have not realised how he was sitting on Megatron and how could he have not noticed that Megatron wasn’t wearing any armour.

“Never took you as one of those…” Megatron was doing that thing with his voice again, Arcee’s reaction was similar to Airachnid’s when she first heard it.

“One of what?” Optimus was still clueless.

“One of those mechs who wants their partners to be still on their backs and take it!” Megatron told him, apparently not caring about being made to do this.

“Partners? What are you blathering on about now Megatron?” The other Decepticons gave up and started laughing; there was no way that Prime could be that clueless!

“You’re the one who is straddling my hips!” Megatron told him, turning a seductive look on him. Optimus glanced down and saw that was exactly what he was doing. He quickly stood up and backed off. He then noticed that Megatron looked… thinner than usual.

“And as much as I would appreciate you riding me…” Megatron’s voice then started doing that thing again; the one that made all of those attracted to him pay attention.

“I’d rather you did so with your armour off too…” Optimus then finally noticed why Megatron looked thinner than usual and that, combined with Megatron’s comment made him go completely still. Megatron was certain if Optimus’s face wasn’t covered by his mask, he would have seen the Prime’s cheeks go bright blue and a disgusted expression on his face. The other Autobots looked torn between laughing and looking as disgusted as their leader must be. Optimus finally shook himself out of his stupor and glanced around. He couldn’t notice the relic capsule and determined that there was no point remaining here.

:: Autobots, the Decepticons have made off with the capsule. There is nothing to be attained by remaining here. :: Optimus then began to run away from the Decepticons; he refused to say Megatron, what Megatron had said didn’t frighten him in the least. Or at least, that is what he was going to tell his comrades when they inevitably asked about it. The Autobots looked a little confused with what their leader had told them but headed in the same direction as their leader had ran. They all were trying not to laugh at their leader’s mistake when they saw him.

:: Ratchet, we require a ground bridge. :: Optimus told him over comm. A ground bridge opened a few nanokliks later. The Autobots all headed through, pondering exactly how a relic capsule managed to disappear from right under their noses. However, if the Autobots had decided to stick around and actually look for the capsule; they could have found it and made off with it without any of the Decepticons noticing. They were all too busy laughing at reactions of the Autobots to do much else!

“Were you being serious there Lord Megatron, or where you faking it like the rest of us did?” Knock Out just about managed to ask without cracking up.

“You don’t _really_ think I would be attracted to the Prime, now do you?” Megatron didn’t even sound annoyed.

“I think Prime might think you are though.” Skyquake trailed off; he’d just been commed by Breakdown.

“I don’t think Prime will ever be able to look at you straight again, master!” Starscream just about managed to say before cracking up again.

:: What did Megatron ask you before we headed out? ::

:: If I did something for him, would I like to be rewarded in the same way as the Vehicons were. :: Skyquake answered, fully expecting to be teased about that once again.

:: That would be a yes, wouldn’t it? :: That didn’t sound teasing, but Skyquake decided he should probably answer him anyway.

:: Yes. Megatron won’t have a reason to though… ::

:: Come over here and I’ll give him a reason. :: Skyquake didn’t think about it he just made his way over to were Breakdown was hiding. Breakdown held out the capsule to him.

“Take the credit for finding this.” Skyquake really didn’t want to, but with the way Breakdown was looking at him he felt it would be rude to refuse. Skyquake took the capsule and walked over towards his master; who was thankfully not paying any attention.

“I have recovered the capsule, lord Megatron.” Skyquake bowed, presenting the capsule to his master. Megatron took it and then made an announcement to all of the Decepticons around the area.

“Skyquake has recovered the relic, we are returning to base!” Megatron silently requested a ground bridge and one opened up near the clearing. Megatron and the other high ranking Decepticons went through first, closely followed by the Vehicons who were playing offline on the ground.

XxX

It was only when all of the Vehicons had headed back to their posts that Megatron approached Skyquake. The capsule had been handed off to one of the Vehicons who was supposed to be guarding the vault, but they’d come to ground bridge to see if the mission was a success.

“Would you like me to reward you for your performance, Skyquake?” Skyquake stiffened; he hadn’t _actually_ expected his lord to want to reward him like that.

:: Go on, tell him you would. ::

:: You probably aren’t going to get another chance! :: Skyquake seemed emboldened by what his twin and Airachnid told him.

“Only if you would like to, master.” Skyquake then stiffened, realising he’d _actually_ said it!

“Well then, come here… and let me show you some affection.” Skyquake was certain that he’d imagined that last part, there was no way he’d just heard his lord say that! Skyquake nervously wandered forward close enough for… Skyquake then felt his lord’s arms slide around him. He quickly reciprocated, not wanting his lord to feel like his ‘reward’ wasn’t appreciated. He was sure he felt Megatron stiffen. _Is he as afraid of physical contact as I am?_ Skyquake pondered, slowly sliding his hands up his lord’s back. Megatron stiffened again, and that confirmed it to Skyquake. It was then Skyquake’s turn to stiffen, he felt his lord’s hands stroking his wings.

:: Did you tell him to do that, Dreadwing? :: Skyquake asked.

:: No, I did. :: He could how smug Starscream was; maybe it was revenge of some sort? He then felt his lord let go, so he quickly did so and stepped back.

“Did you enjoy that?” Megatron asked quietly. Skyquake silently nodded, not trusting his voice at that moment.

“Then maybe I should reward you in such a manner… more often.” Skyquake then could have sworn he was seeing things; Megatron _winked_ at him. That got Megatron the blush he’d been trying to get.

“Why are you acting like that lord Megatron?” Knock Out asked.

“Did you all not go around doing something similar?” Megatron gave his underlings a look. They all then realised that their lord wasn’t as blind to the goings on of the Nemesis as they first thought.

“Yes… sort of.” Starscream answered with a shrug.

“Can I go and put my armour back on now, or do I have to stand around here?” The like this went unsaid.

“It has been near enough a joor, as much as I don’t want to admit it.” Airachnid told him, sounding only a little disappointed.

“After the solar cycle’s shift is over, why don’t all meet up in the med-bay for a little discussion?” Knock Out suggested. Everyone else agreed, and so they headed off in different direction to get on with their tasks for the day.

After the solar cycle’s shifts were over, as they’d said they had all gathered in the med-bay; including Soundwave. Knock Out figured either he’d been told by someone, or he’d heard it on the surveillance footage. Either way; all of the Decepticon hierarchy were gathered in the med-bay.

“You have all enjoyed doing this haven’t you?” Knock Out asked to them all, adding that he knew he had. He, unsurprisingly, received yeses from Starscream, Dreadwing, Airachnid, Breakdown and Skyquake.

“It was quite fun, watching all of you make fools of yourselves on the surveillance footage.” Soundwave’s comment made all of the other Decepticons wonder exactly how much he’d seen.

“As it happens, even though I felt a little foolish wandering around with no armour, it was fun scandalising the Autobots.” Megatron begrudgingly admitted.

“Such a shame that such a thing is outlawed then, isn’t it master?” Starscream was purposefully trying to get Megatron to overrule that law.

“It is. But I can change that.” Megatron saw all of the original dare club start cheering.

“But.” They all stopped and went silent. Megatron paused for a few more nanokliks to make them worry.

“It will only be possible after the solar cycle’s shifts are over. I will not have you spending your shifts on this pursuit!” Megatron received a ‘yes master’ from all six of the other Decepticons who had been playing truth or dare in first place.

“And you will not play it for seven solar cycles as punishment for it being played during your shifts this time.” They begrudgingly agreed with this as well.

“And _after_ those seven solar cycles and _after_ that eighth solar cycle’s shifts you will allow me to join in with your game.” Megatron’s comment made them all surprised. _So he must have enjoyed it more than he let on._ Knock Out thought, not daring to voice his opinion.

“I want the chance to dare one of you!” Megatron’s comment went unanswered for a few nanokliks; they were all nervous of the sort of things their lord might make them do!

“Are you wanting to know when we are planning on doing this Soundwave?” Breakdown turned to their communications officer, who seemed to be trying to sneak out of the door.

“No, I have no desire to be made a fool of by any of you.” Soundwave answered, before heading out of the door.

“So, we meet back up in here in roughly eight solar cycle’s time?” Airachnid asked.

“Unless you need repairs, or you’d like to pay me a visit.” Knock Out told them, fully expecting them all to head out of the door. All of them began to head out of the door and go towards their quarters. All of them who were wanting to join in with this particular meeting had plenty of time to come up with different truths they wanted to know and dares they wanted each other to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And so this brings us to the end of Truth or Dare. I hope none of you saw that coming! Megatron allowing the dare club (and doing a dare!) and Soundwave breaking his vow of silence in one chapter! That chapter was pretty much written for anyone (including me, I wanted it to happen as well!) who wanted to see Megatron doing a dare. And that would be two Autobots who won’t be able to look at their rivals straight now! If anyone has any suggestions for what truths they would like characters to say or what dares they would like to do, I’ll be happy for them; I’m certain you have plenty of ideas! (I might have to do a little one-shot series after this if I get any…) Anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard enough of my prattle, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> I think I’ll just leave that there; you’ll find out what the others’ reactions are to the group dare and what it is in the next chapter! Airachnid is still the only member of the group that knows of the female Vehicons. And maybe Knocks will get his head out of the gutter… or not.


End file.
